RADER-'S 

HISTORY OF MISSOURI 



REVISED EDITIO'N 



1917 





Glass r *f j>fe> 
Book %L<^ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI 



THE 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI 



FROM THE 
EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT 



REVISED EDITION 



BY 

Perry S. Rader 



THE HUGH STEPHENS COMPANY 

JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1904, by 

PERRY S. RADER, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



Copyright, 1897, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright. 1907, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright, 1912, by Perry S. Rader. 
Copyright, 1917, by Perry S. Rader. 



MAY I7I9I7 

©CIA 4 00869 



PREFACE. 

My History was the first school history of Missouri ever 
published. It had grown out of a conviction that I could not 
render a more valuable service to the boys and girls in school 
than by writing a connected narrative of the heroic deeds and 
great achievements of the great people who had built up their 
beloved commonwealth. When the State Text-Book Commis- 
sion met in 1897 to adopt a series of books for use in public 
schools, I submitted it for adoption. One day I received a 
telegram from a Commissioner requesting me to come to Jeffer- 
son City where the Commission was in session. On my arrival 
I was told that no satisfactory book on the subject of Civil 
Government had been submitted, and that the Commissioners 
were pleased with my History but doubted their legal authority 
to adopt a history of Missouri as a separate study, since the 
law stated text-books on the subject of history of the United 
States and civil government should be adopted, but did not 
use the words ' ' History of M issouri . ' ' They were of the opinion 
that if a civil government and history of Missouri could be 
combined into one book, it could, under the law, be adopted 
as a civil government, and it was suggested that I write a 
Civil Government, both of the United States and the State 
of Missouri, and submit it in manuscript form, along with an 
agreement to print it as the first part and the History as the 
second part of one combined book. I did so, and the one 
volume entitled "The Civil Government of the United States 
and State of Missouri and History of Missouri" was pub- 
lished, and at once found a large place in the schools. 
These facts explain why the Civil Government and History 
were first published as one book. Revised editions have 
since been issued and have been extensively used, and in all 

(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

of them this combination of the two books into one volume 
has been retained, and has met with such general approval 
by superintendents and teachers as an arrangement best 
adapted to the course of study prescribed for schools, that it 
has been retained in this last edition. However unusual the 
combination may be, it does not seem wise to depart from 
an arrangement that best fits in with the needs and work of 
the schools. 

Within the last year the History has been thoroughly 
revised and brought down to date. One or two chapters have 
been entirely rewritten, because events and developments have 
required a different treatment. New and better cuts have 
been added. In every valuable sense, the History now 
offered is a new book. 

It can be used either as a text, or as a supplementary 
reader. Every child in school who has reached the higher 
readers should be required to read it as a collateral reader. 
Maturer students, able to undertake the Civil Government, 
should be required to know its principal statements of facts. 
Even as to them some of it should be studied, and other 
parts simply carefully read ; and the discriminating teacher 
will be able to designate what parts are for study and what 
for reading. 

Again, as in the Civil Government, the questions at the 
end of chapters are not designed for use in recitations, but 
to aid pupils in centering their attention upon the facts they 
should accurately know. 

The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to 
Mr. Louis Houck, whose late comprehensive History of Mis- 
souri has greatly aided in clarifying certain historical facts, and 
to the Missouri Historical Society of St. Louis for a recent 
picture of Laclede and other valuable favors. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI 

PART I.— FRENCH AND SPANISH PERIODS. 

Chapters. Page 

I. — Discoveries 9 

II. — The First Settlements 15 

III. — Spanish Rule 19 

PART II.— TERRITORIAL PERIOD. 

Chapters. Page 

I. — The Louisiana Purchase 27 

II. — Missouri's First Years as a Territory 31 

III. — Exploring Expeditions 35 

XV. — The New Madrid Earthquake 37 

V. — Other Settlements 39 

PART III.— MISSOURI AS A STATE. 

Chapters. Page 

I. — The Admission of Missouri into the Union 51 

II. — First Years as a State 59 

III. — Bates and Miller — 1824-32 64 

IV. — Governor Dunklin's Administration — 1832-36 71 

V. — Governor Boggs and Mormon Troubles 74 

VI. — The Administration of Reynolds and Marmaduke 83 

VII. — The Administrations of Governors Edwards and King 89 

VIII. — Benton and the Jackson Resolutions 98 

IX.— From 1852 to 1860 102 

X.— The Election of 1860 113 

XL — The First Months of 1861 117 

XII. — The Convention 123 

XIII. — The Arsenal and Camp Jackson 128 

XIV. — Boonville, Carthage and Cowskin Prairie 139 

XV.— The Battle of Wilson's Creek 144 

XVI. — The Last Months of 1861 149 

XVII.— From 1862 to 1864 153 

XVIII. — The Administration of Governor Fletcher 164 

XIX. — McClurg's Administration 173 

XX. — The Administration of Governor Brown 177 

XXI. — 'Governors Woodson and Hardin 184 

XXII. — From 1877 to 1892 193 

XXIII.— From 1892 to the Present Time 200 

(7) 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI 



PART I. 
FRENCH AND SPANISH PERIOD. 



CHAPTER I, 

DISCOVERIES. 



1. The First White Man. — The first white man to 
put foot on the soil of Missouri was Hernando De Soto, in 
1541. De Soto was a Spaniard. He had been with Pizarro 
in the conquest of Peru, and had returned from his bucca- 
neering ventures there to Spain with a fortune of a half mil- 
lion dollars. Hearing of the wonders of Florida and the 
country beyond it, that it abounded in gold and precious 
stones, he was fired with a passion for its conquest, and ob- 
tained permission from the king to fit out an expedition for 
this purpose at his own expense. It was more like a royal 
pageant than an exploring party or a conquering army. His 
force consisted of six hundred followers, twenty officers, and 
twenty-four ecclesiastics, all gorgeously arrayed in splendid 
armor. He landed in great pomp at Tampa bay in 1539, 
and driving a large number of cattle and hogs before him for 
food for his men, proceeded west. The Indians and forests 
interposed. His followers were not trained to overcome such 
hardships. Some were killed by the Indians, and others died 
from sickness. No gold was found. The Indians told him of 
fabulous amounts of it to be had on the Mississippi river. He 

(9) 



10 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

pressed forward and reached the river near Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, in 1541, and pursued his way north into the region 
now known as New Madrid county in our own State. He 
then moved west, crossed the Ozark mountains, and spent 
the winter on the prairies and plains beyond, all the time 
searching for gold and silver, but finding none. He moved 
southward into Arkansas, reached Hot Springs and White 
River, and then came back to the Mississippi, where he died 
in the spring of 1542. The Indians believed him to be the 
Son of the Sun, who could not die. His priests, to conceal 
his death, therefore, wrapped his body in a mantle, sunk it 
at night in the great river he had discovered, and chanted 
over it the first requiem ever heard in the Mississippi Valley. 
''The wanderer," says Bancroft, "had marched over a large 
part of the continent in search of gold, and found nothing 
so remarkable as his burying place." Most of his followers 
perished before they reached Spain. 

2. French Explorations. — The Spaniards were untiring 
explorers and during the next hundred and fifty years several 
expeditions were organized in New Spain, as Mexico was 
then called, and sent across the plains in search of gold and of 
a mystic city far-famed among the Indians as of immense 
size and splendor and situated in the midst of a rich country 
abounding in gold and precious gems. To this city the Span- 
iards gave the name of Quivira (Ke-ve-ra) and among the 
leaders of expeditions who reached Missouri in search of it 
were Coronado in October, 1541, Humana in 1594, Onate in 
1602 and Penalosa in 1662. There was no such city as the 
Indians along the Rio Grande had led them to believe; some 
of these explorers, however, notably Penalosa, claimed to 
have found, in some unascertainable place within the present 
boundaries of Missouri, a large Indian settlement, miles in 
extent and located in the midst of a wide region of very fertile 
lands. But the Spaniards were not the first settlers. On the 
contrary, they did nothing towards colonizing Missouri or 



DISCOVERIES. 11 

any part of the Mississippi Valley, and it was two hundred 
and twenty years after De Soto's death till they appeared on 
this territory with any show of right to the soil. Even the 
part they then took was unimportant. In the meantime the 
French, moved by a desire of doing missionary work among 
the Indians and enticed by the profitable fur trade, had pushed 
many hundred miles further west than had the English settlers 
along the Atlantic coast; had, from their homes in Canada, 
penetrated the forests around the Great Lakes, made several 
explorations of the Mississippi, and taken possession of the 
country in the name of France. One of the most interesting 
facts in all history is the slowness with which the men of north- 
ern Europe and along the Atlantic coast came to a compre- 
hension of the great size of North America. For a long 
period of time it was the general belief among them, especi- 
ally in Canada, that there was a great river somewhere west 
of the Alleghany Mountains that emptied, not into the Gulf 
of Mexico, but into the "South Sea," by which was meant 
the Pacific Ocean, or more probably into the "Vermilion 
Sea," which was the name given to the Gulf of California. To 
find the outlet of that great river was another reason for send- 
ing exploring parties into the unknown regions lying west and 
southwest of the Great Lakes, and it was probably the con- 
trolling reason with the king of France, who directed that they 
be organized and sent forth. The first of the French expe- 
ditions to reach Missouri was made in 1673 by Louis Joliet, 
who was accompanied by James Marquette and five other 
men. Marquette belonged to a noble family of the beautiful 
old-cathedral city of Laon in France. He was a kind of 
soldier-priest, and it was in the spirit of a missionary to un- 
known Indians that he and Joliet left Quebec, which was then 
a French colony, and began a toilsome journey into the far 
southwest. They discovered the upper Mississippi, and 
passed down it to the mouth of the Arkansas, exploring many 
of its tributaries. Marquette wrote a full account of their 



12 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



discoveries, and on their return their reports stirred other 
men into an ambitious desire to find the outlet of the great 
river. 

3. La Salle and the French Title.— In 1682 La Salle, 
another Frenchman from Quebec, explored the Mississippi 
to its mouth, and formally took possession of the whole coun- 
try in the name of Louis XIV., the reigning King of France, 
in whose honor he called the 

country Louisiana. All the 
leading nations of Europe at that 
time held to the principle that 
the nation that discovered and 
explored a great river and estab- 
lished a considerable and per- 
manent settlement near its 
mouth became the owner of all 
the country drained by that 
river and all its tributaries. 
The king of France made known 
to the world that he claimed the 
whole country drained by the 
Mississippi and its tributaries by 
virtue of La Salle's discoveries, and within a few years 
permanent French settlements were begun at Natchez, New 
Orleans and at other points along the Mississippi, and hence 
France became the owner of the whole country. As the 
country now called Missouri was drained by the Mississippi 
and its tributaries, it was a part of Louisiana, and our soil 
first belonged to France. De Soto as the representative of 
Spain had long before that explored the great river and visited 
this territory, yet he made no settlement anywhere in the 
Mississippi Valley, and hence Spain had no title to the soil. 

4. The Name Missouri. — Most of the early French 
settlements were on the east bank of the Mississippi, but in 
1705 a prospecting party of Frenchmen ascended the Missouri 




Robert Caveller De La Salle. 



DISCOVERIES. X 13 

river to where Kansas City Is now situated. This was the 
first ascent of this noble river by white men. It was first 
called Pek-i-ta-nou-i, by Marquette, which is an Indian word 
meaning "muddy water." About 1712 it was first called 
Missouri, from the name of a tribe of Indians who inhabited 
the country at its mouth and along a considerable portion 
of its banks. It cannot be certainly said that ''Missouri" 
means ''muddy water," or that it does not; its precise meaning 
is uncertain. But it is a fact that this definition of the word 
"Missouri" was given to it after the name of the river was 
changed from Pekitanoui or Pekitanou, which means "muddy 
water," to Missouri. 

5. Interior Explorations. — An exploration of the in- 
terior of Missouri by the French was begun in 1719. The 
authorities at New Orleans ordered the expedition, and De 
Dutisne was placed in charge of it. He started with his force 
from the mouth of Saline river, a stream about seventy miles 
south of St. Louis. He moved northwest across the Ozark 
mountains to the Osage river, near which he came upon a 
village occupied by Osage Indians, containing about one hun- 
dred cabins and huts. One hundred and twenty miles fur- 
ther west he found two other large villages, inhabited by 

I Poncas Indians, who seemed to own many horses. He re- 
turned by way of the Missouri River, and took formal pos- 
session of the country by erecting posts with the king's arms 
thereon. After this expedition the daring Frenchmen ven- 
tured into the forests for purposes of hunting, trading and 
mining. The rapidity with which they came excited the jeal- 
ousy of the Spanish, who still claimed the country. 

6. The Spanish Caravan. — The Spanish authorities, 
still covetous of the great Mississippi Valley, determined to 
destroy the power of the French along the Missouri and 
Mississippi. In 1720 they organized a motley troop at 
Santa Fe, stated by writers at the time to consist of 1,500 
men, women and children, but perhaps consisting of less 



14 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

than one-third that number, and those mostly soldiers and 
untrained militia. It was given the name of "the Spanish 
Caravan." It moved across the plains and entered the 
Missouri country, and here was suddenly attacked by the 
Missouri Indians and their kindred tribes, who were allies of 
the French, and the entire troop, except one friar, were killed. 
The French writers of that and later times were greatly 
elated over the entire destruction of this caravan, for it put 
a stop to further claims by Spain to the Mississippi country. 
In consequence they wrote extravagant accounts of it, and 
it is doubtful if even yet the exact facts in regard to it are 
known. 

7. Fort Orleans. — The boldness of the Spanish Cara- 
van aroused the French to strengthen their hold on the 
country. They sent a force up the Missouri River to build a 
fort and cultivate friendly relations with the numerous 
Indian tribes. De Bourgmont, who had rendered valuable 
service to the French king in Canada and Louisiana, was 
in command, and, aided by twenty soldiers and some serv- 
ants, established a fort about fifteen miles from the mouth of 
Grand River, and called it Fort Orleans. It was the first 
European establishment within the present territory of 
Missouri, and was built in the latter part of 1723. Its exact 
location is not known, but it is certain it was either on an 
island in the Missouri River, long ago washed away, or within 
the boundaries of what is now Carroll County. De Bourg- 
mont succeeded in forming friendly alliances with the prin- 
cipal Indian tribes on both sides of the river, and far into 
Kansas, and in 1725 took a dozen of the principal men of the 
Missouris and Osages to France, presented them to the king, 
and then sent them in safety back to their own people. Fort 
Orleans a few years later was abandoned and allowed to 
decay. 



THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 15 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1 . Who was the first white man in Missouri ? ( 1 ) 

2. Describe De Solo's journey. (1) 

3. What great river did he discover? (1) 

4. Describe the fabled city of Quivira. (2) 

5. Did Spaniards make any settlement in Missouri or the Mississinoi 

Valley? (2) 

6. Mention some French explorations. (2) 

7. What is said of Marquette? (2) 

8. Who named Louisiana? (3) 

9. In honor of what king was it named? (3) 

10. Upon what did European nations base title in New World? (3) 

n. What did France do to perfect La Salle's discoveries? (3) 

12. Why was not Spain's claim good? (3) 

13. Where were the French settlements? (4) 

14. What is said about name of Missouri river? (4) 

15. When was the interior of Missouri first explored? (5) De- 

scribe first explorations. (5) 

16. Describe the Spanish Caravan. (6) 

17. What is said of Fort Orieans? (7) 



CHAPTER II. 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 

8. The First Permanent Settlement.— The first place 
settled in Missouri was Ste. Genevieve (pronounced Jen-e- 
veev) in about 1735. It was about three miles from the 
present town of that name on the Mississippi River, sixty 
miles below St. Louis. For some time daring and hardy 
Frenchmen had been gathering in and around Kaskaskia, a 
settlement in Illinois, until at this time it had about six thou- 
sand people. Most of them had come in search of gold and 
silver. ^ Some of them, under Renault, a wealthy and exten- 
sive miner, crossed over into Missouri in search of these 
metals. They found none, but they did find lead in abun- 
dance. ^ Furnaces were prepared for smelting, and it was con- 
veyed in boats to New Orleans, and then to France. In 1785 
the old town was destroyed by flood, and the site of the 



16 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



^m- 



present town was selected. Many settlers came from the 
east side of the Mississippi, ind the town soon became an 
important trading point 

9. The Next Settlement. — Ihe next settleuxcnt of any 
consequence was St. Louis. Its founder was Laclede, 
whose name has since been given to many business institu- 
tions in the State. His full 

name was Pierre Laclede Li- 
gueste, but he was more gen- 
erally known as Pierre Laclede. 
He was a man of great business 
sagacity. In 1762 he and some 
associates obtained from D'- 
Abbadie a monopoly of the fur 
trade with the Indians of Mis- 
souri. D'Abbadie was the civil 
and military governor of Louis- 
iana, and exercised a vice-regal 
authority. Laclede explored 
the regions along the Missis- 
sippi in search of the best point 
at which to establish a trading 
post and sell goods. His keen 

business sense directed him to a low bluff on the west side 
of the river. Here, on the spot not far from where the court 
house now stands, on the south side of Market street, which 
took its name from the only market house the city contained 
for sixty years, he cleared away the heavy timber and erected 
his trading post, in February, 1764. This was the beginning 
of St. Louis. Laclede was right. It was the best place for 
trade then. It is the best now. It was named for Louis IX., 
king of France, whom the French people greatly honored, 
some even pronouncing him a saint, hence Saint Louis. 

10. St. Charles. — The first settlement north of the 
Missouri river was at St. Charles, by Blanchette, "the hunt- 




v/ 

Pierre Laclede Ligueste. 



THE FIRST SETTLEMENTS. 17 

er," soon after St. Louis was founded. It was at first a mere 
camp of hunters, fur-traders and explorers, but as the years 
wcixi. i^> &om<^ " ,!iese remained aii< built houses. So that 
the exact date gf the settlement cannot uc stated. At St. 
Charles was built the first permanent fort in Missouri, and 
there and near there In after years the Indians committed 
their worst atrocities against the whites. 

11. Missouri Transferred to Spain. — About this 
time ended French rule In Missouri. The battle of Que- 
bec, in which had met the chivalrous Montcalm and the noble 
Wolfe, the one commanding the Intrepid French and the 
other the invincible English, had been fought more than four 
years before. It was the end of a contest between these two 
peoples for the possession of America. It was decided in 
favor of the English, and the decision marks an epoch In the 
progress of civil liberty. France, by a treaty ratified at Fon- 
talnebleau In 1763, gave up all her territory in America — the 
Canadas, and all that part of Louisiana east of the Missis- 
sippi, except New Orleans, to England; and New Orleans and 
all the country west of the river to Spain, as an Indemnifica- 
tion for her losses In the war. England thus acquired rule 
over the east side of the river before Laclede had begun his 
settlement at St. Louis, but Missouri belonged to Spain. 
England at no time before or after this was entitled to Missouri's 
soil. Because of the long war between England and France, 
the settlers along the upper Mississippi valley, the most of 
whom were Frenchmen, greatly disliked the idea of being 
subject to England. It was thought Spain could never exer- 
cise dominion over her newly acquired territory, and hence 
many of them crossed over the river into Missouri. This 
will explain why the population Increased so rapidly for the 
next few years, and why it was mostly French, although 
governed by Spain. 



18 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

12. St. Ange's Rule.— Although the title to Louisiana 
was now in Spain, the officers of that nation did not succeed 
in formally taking possession of the country till 1770. Soon 
after the treaty w^as signed, St. Ange de Bellerive, who was 
commander for the French in Illinois, surrendered his author- 
ity to Captain Sterling, the representative of England, and 
settled in St. Louis. He was followed by many of the French 
settlers east of the river. By common consent, and probably 
by permission of the government at New Orleans, he was 
made the commander of the settlement. He was a wise and 
safe ruler. 

13. St. Ange and Pontiac. — St. Ange and the settlers 
were enemies of English rule, and friends to England's ene- 
mies. They were admirers and supporters of Pontiac, a 
powerful Indian chief, who was the terror of the whites from 
the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Pontiac, aided by the 
French, among them some of the settlers along the Missis- 
sippi, had in 1759 met a strong English army at Pittsburg under 
Braddock and George Washington, and disastrously defeated 
it. St. Ange invited Pontiac to visit him, which he did. He 
was entertained with great distinction and visited by the prin- 
cipal citizens. But when France lost her possessions in 
America, Pontiac thereby lost his greatest support. His 
allies among the Indians soon afterwards forsook him. He 
was crushed in spirit and sought to drown his sorrow in in- 
toxicating drink. Richly dressed in robes adorned with eagles' 
feathers, he visited Cahokia, a town about six miles below 
St. Louis, in what is now Illinois. Becoming stupefied 
by drink, he wandered into a thicket near the place, and was 
there assassinated by a Kaskaskia Indian, who was hired by 
an English trader and received a barrel of whiskey for the 
murder. St. Ange had his body brought to St. Louis and 
buried at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth streets, 
close by where the great Southern Hotel stood until recently. 
Near his grave St. Ange was buried in after years. 



SPANISH RULE. 19 

Questions on Chapter II. 

1. Where was the first permanent settlement in Missouri? (8) 

2. What is said of Renault and his followers? (8) 

3. When and by whom was St. Louis settled? (9) 

4. What is said of St. Charles? (10) 

5. What is said of the battle of Quebec? (1 1 ) 

6. What did France get by the Fontainebleau treaty? (11) 

7. What did Spain get? (11). 

8. Why did the French settlers in Illinois come to Missouri? (11) 

9. What did St. Ange do? (12) 

10. What is said of St. Ange and Pontiac? (13) 



CHAPTER III. 

SPANISH RULE. 

14. First Spanish Ruler.— The first Spanish Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, acting as a subordinate in most things to the 
Governor at New Orleans, was Don Pedro Piernas. The 
people regretted to see the flag of France lowered, and even 
shed tears when they realized that they were to be ruled by 
one of a different blood and nation from themselves. But 
their regrets did not last long. Piernas was a mild and safe 
ruler. He made few laws, and they were just and easily 
obeyed. He appointed St. Ange captain of his infantry and 
filled nearly all the subordinate ofhces with Frenchmen. He 
began systematic surveys of the lands and appointed a 
Frenchman surveyor. He further publicly confirmed all the 
land grants made by St. Ange between the time of the trans- 
fer of the territory from France to Spain in 1763, and the be- 
ginning of the Spanish rule in 1770, which grants would of 
course have been illegal had he not confirmed them. He 
finally won the entire confidence of the people by marrying 
a French woman, so that after they had known him for five 
years they again shed tears to give him up. He had found a 
population of 891, most of whom were confined to St. Louis 
and Ste. Genevieve. The people were mostly French, and 
few of them could read or write. There were no schools and 



20 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

very little desire for any. But the people were honest, in- 
dustrious and peaceable. Indeed, during the entire Spanish 
period of thirty-eight years, only one case of murder of a 
white man by a white man in St. Louis is reported. 

15. The Soil and Settler. — The soil at that time was 
covered with thick forests or rank prairie grass, filled with 
all kinds of game and inhabited by Indians who lived in wig- 
wams and hunted and fished for subsistence. This in the 
main was true of all the Indian tribes; but the Osages, whose 
habitat was within the west half of what is now Missouri, 
raised corn and lived in more substantial huts. The French 
settlers were possessed of an aptitude for easy and peaceable 
intercourse with the natives. They studied their language, 
took part in their sports, adapted themselves to their usages, 
humored their whims, and never ridiculed their religious 
ideas. Often the settler, of plastic temper, with a free-and- 
easy manner, would decorate his hair with eagle feathers, 
attach hairy fringes to his hunting shirt, and mix and mingle 
with the Indians as if they were his equals. And for these 
reasons, and because the French did not attempt to exten- 
sively cultivate the lands, there were fewer Indian wars in 
the early settlement of Missouri than in many of the other 
States. 

16. Houses and Ownership of Lands. — The land was 
owned largely by tenancy in common. The settlements had 
each a common in the rear of the houses, inclosing hundreds 
of acres under one fence for the benefit of all. But the settle- 
ments themselves were compact villages, for the settlers were 
sociable and loved to congregate together. Nearly all the 
early ones were along some river. A long street usually ex- 
tended parallel to it. The Jand along it was divided into lots 
a few rods wide and perhaps twice as long. On these the 
houses were built, which were usually one story high, con- 
structed of corner posts and studs, to which were attached 
numerous cross- ties. Then a stiff mortar, made of mud and 



SPANISH RULE. 21 

cut straw, was plastered on to the outside. The roof was 
shingled with bark or clapboards. The chimney was the cel- 
ebrated ''stick-and-dirt chimney." It was made of rock and 
burnt clay to some distance above the intense heat of the fire, 
and from that distance was finished with alternate pieces of 
wood and clay plaster. The floors were made of logs with the 
upper roundness hewn fiat, or of split logs, the fiat sides of 
which were turned up, and, by notching in the ends, were 
thus put on a level. These were called puncheon floors. The 
doors were hung on wooden hinges. Back of each house was, 
a field, 192 feet wide and 7,800 feet long, containing about 
thirty-four acres. Each villager had one or more of these 
fields assigned to him, according to his desires, or the neces- 
sities of his family. Next to the fields was the common, 
stocked with cattle, hogs and horses, the property of all. 

17. Social Relations.— Hospitality was a duty and a 
virtue. Each house was a free hotel to the extent of its ca- 
pacity. Amusements, festivals and holidays were frequent. 
There were no statutory laws; no trades, nor professions, 
no prisons. The priests were their instructors in all matters 
of learning and religion. In politics they w^ere attached to 
France, and were not anxious about any political questions, 
believing that France ruled the world and ruled it right. 

18. Settlement of Disputes.— There were no trials 
by jury during either the French or Spanish period. This 
great bulwark of English liberty— perhaps the distinctive 
characteristic of their government wherever the English race 
has spread — had no sway till after Missouri was acquired by 
the United States. If one wished to recover property, or had 
committed a crime, the matter was submitted to the lieutenant- 
governor, or to some deputy designated by him, who decided 
as he understood the law of Spain or France to be, or as his 
prejudices or ideas of right directed him. All governmental 
power was vested in the lieutenant-governor — if there were 
any laws he made them; he was the judge of whatever courts 



22 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

were held, and when a case was decided he directed his soldiers 
to carry out his orders; he made grants of land to persons 
he considered worthy, and revoked them when his regulations 
were not obeyed. Autocratic though his authority would 
seem to be, it was submitted to by all persons without mur- 
muring, because it was usually exercised with justice and 
moderation. 

19. British and Indian Attack. — We have now come 
to the time of the Revolutionary War, which though fraught 
with very great consequences, yet disturbed these sturdy set- 
tlers very little. They were French subjects of Spain, and 
the war was fought by England and her subjects. These 
settlers, removed a thousand miles from the scene of the war, 
therefore, took no part in it, except as did Spain and France, 
to sympathize with the Colonies and wish for their success. 
In 1778 Virginia sent out General George Rogers Clark, who 
captured the British settlements in Illinois, such as Kas- 
kaskia and Cahokia, and he wa& very much befriended by 
the inhabitants of St. Louis, including the Lieutenant-Governor. 
The British undertook, soon after this, a comprehensive 
movement for the expulsion of the Spanish from the Mis- 
sissippi Valley. Their plan was to come down from Canada 
and their forts near the Great Lakes, and first capture St. 
Louis and then recapture the Illinois towns taken by General 
Clark. De Leyba, who was the Spanish Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor, in anticipation of an attack, built a wooden tower at 
the north end of St. Louis, and threw up two lines of intrench- 
ments around the western outskirts of the town. In the 
tower he placed five small cannons, and manned the intrench- 
ments with 25 soldiers and 281 militia, well armed with guns. 
Four or five months passed and nothing happened. But on 
May 26, 1780, a force of 150 English and Canadian whites 
and 1,500 Indians gathered in the woods around the town, 
principally north of it, and first captured two citizens at 
Cardinal Spring, near where the fair grounds were situated 



SPANISH RULE. 23 

in later years, one of whom (Cardinal) they killed, and then 
proceeded at once to the attack, but they met a spirited re- 
sistance. Some of the Indian allies (the Sacs and Foxes), 
whose allegiance had been bargained for, seem to have 
been half-hearted in the attack because of their friendship 
for the French traders with whom they had come in contact, 
and were charged by the British officer in command (Sinclair) 
with desertion. The other Indians were terrified by the 
cannon and withdrew. Fifty-eight of the inhabitants had 
been killed and scalped, and others were taken prisoners. 
De Leyba was an. unpopular ruler, and it has been stated 
in various books and long believed that during this fight 
he was in a drunken stupor, and being aroused by the noise 
of the cannon directed them to be turned and fired upon the 
gallant defenders of the town. But more recent and careful 
investigation indicates that these charges were not true. 
On the contrary, when the official report of the attack and 
repulse reached Spain the king was greatly pleased and con- 
ferred on him a high rank in his army — an honor which he 
never knew, for he died a month after the attack. His 
unpopularity was probably in part due to his speculations in 
trade, and to the fact that he put a stop to the smuggling in 
of goods imported from abroad, which Piernas and Cruzat, 
his predecessors, had allowed to be shipped in and sold without 
the payment of the tariffs which the Spanish government 
had imposed. 

20. Cruzat and Pirates. — Cruzat had succeeded Pier- 
nas as lieutenant-governor in 1775. His first term lasted till 
1778, when he was removed, and De Leyba was appointed. 
His second term, which began in 1780 and lasted till 1787, 
was mild and prosperous. A census, taken in 1785, shows a 
population of about 1,500 for all Missouri, which number 
was swelled to 2,100 by another census of 1788. This in- 
crease was largely due to the high waters of the Mississippi, 
which overflowed much of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and 



24 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

caused some of the inhabitants of those towns to cross over 
into Missouri. To such a height did the angry waters rise 
that 1785 was long afterwards known as "the year of the 
great water." While Cruzat was lieutenant-governor, the 
trade of the Mississippi was much impaired by pirates. 
Grand Tower is a large column of rock situated about mid- 
way between St. Louis and the mouth of the Ohio, Here a 
large band of pirates collected and would capture and pillage 
passing boats, appropriate their cargoes, and kill their crews. 
These depredations went on until 1788, and many a daring 
robbery and foul murder was committed. Other portions of 
the river were also infested. That year, however, the gov- 
ernor at New Orleans ordered all boats traveling on the river 
to go together. By this means their combined strength was 
too much for the pirates, and they were dispersed and never 
afterwards heard of. 

21. Shawnees and Delawares. — In 1787, Manuel Pe- 
rez came into office. During his administration, bands of 
Shawnees and Delawares, driven by the advancement of the 
whites from beyond the Alleghanies and from Ohio and Ken- 
tucky, settled near Ste. Genevieve and Cape Girardeau. 
Here they remained for thirty-five years, till 1825, when they 
were required to move still further westward. Although in 
the country north of the Ohio and in their frequent raids into 
Kentucky they had been the bloodiest of savages, after they 
settled in Missouri they were peaceable and industrious and 
never quarreled with the whites of these regions. They be- 
came useful to them as hunters and small farmers, and were 
established in small settlements close to, the whites as an in- 
tervention between them and more unfriendly tribes further 
west. In after years one of these Shawnee chiefs is said to 
have addressed these words to General Harrison: "You call 
us your children; why do you not make us happy as our 
fathers, the French, did? They never took from us our 
lands; indeed they were in common between us. They 



SPANISH RULE. 25 

planted where they pleased, and cut wood where they pleased. 
So did we. But now, if a poor Indian attempts to take a 
little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes 
a white man and threatens to shoot him, claiming the tree 
as his own." The honorable conduct of the French settlers 
toward the Indians is a part of Missouri history which admits 
of just pride. 

22. From 1793 to 1804.— In 1793 Trudeau came into 
office, and in 1799 he was succeeded by Delassus (De-la-su), 
the last of the Spanish lieutenant-governors. Aside from the 
"hard winter" of 1798-1799 and the "small-pox" of 1801, there 
are but two important facts to consider. They explain the 
rapid increase of the population which in 1800 arose to about 
six thousand, and in 1803 to about ten thousand, and also why 
nearly all of the increase was English instead of French. (1) 
By a voluntary grant from Virginia, Congress in 1784 ac- 
quired all the soil north of the Ohio river known as the North- 
west Territory, and in 1787 passed a law prohibiting slavery 
therein. Hence many of the settlers in that territory who 
owned slaves came to Missouri, where the law did not apply. 
(2) The other cause was the liberal terms upon which the im- 
migrant could obtain soil west of the Mississippi. In 1796 
the English of Canada threatened an invasion of Upper 
Louisiana. The Spanish authorities conceived themselves 
under the necessity of strengthening their settlements for 
defense. They argued that the hostility of the people of the 
United States toward England would prove a sufficient guar- 
anty of their fidelity to Spain. Hence lands were freely 
offered to all such settlers as would pay the office fees and 
expenses of surveying. By these terms one could get eight 
hundred acres of land of his own choosing for about fifty 
dollars, almost entirely free from subsequent taxes. In 
making these grants no favoritism was shown Catholics as 
against Protestants, and the king gave orders that the people 
were not to be disturbed in the exercise of their religion. 



26 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

23. General Conditions. — Such in brief is the history 
of Spanish rule in Missouri. It was, for the most part, brave, 
just and wise. The people were far away from the civil- 
ization of the w^orld, in the very heart of a continent inhab- 
ited by savages, with only a few settlements by white persons 
within a thousand miles of them. They were free from tax- 
ation, free from the tyranny and interference of a foreign 
king. Yet the amicable terms they maintained with the In- 
dians, and the orderly government they held over themselves 
without laws or juries, and almost without officers of any 
kind, enlist at once our admiration and hold our serious 
thought. So that we do not wonder that, when the country 
was transferred to the United States in 1804, "few of the 
French and part of the English-Americans only were recon- 
ciled to the change, though they never manifested any dis- 
content." 

24. Population. — Another census, taken in J. 800, gives 
the population of St. Louis at^gS; of St. Charles, at 875; of 
Ste. Genevieve, at 949; of New Madrid, at 782, and the 
entire population of Missouri at 6,028. Of this number 
4,94 8 were whites, 197 free colored, and 883 slaves. Nearly 
four years later, when the territory was transferred to the 
United States, it had increased to 9,020 whites and 1,3C0 

.colored, most of the latter being slaves. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. Discuss Spanish rule in Missouri. (14) 

2. Discuss the soil and settler. (15) The house, village and 

ownership of land. (16) 
3'. Discuss social relations. (17) Settlement of disputes and 
government. (18) 

4. Discuss British and Indian attack on St. Louis. (19) 

5. Discuss Shawnee and Delaware Indians. (21) 

6. Give two reasons for increase in population about 1800. (22) 

7. Describe life in the heart of the Continent. (23) 



PART II. 

TERRITORIAL PERIOD. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 

25. The Situation. — By the treaty of 1763 Spain ac- 
quired all the country west of the Mississippi and the island 
on which New Orleans is situated, and still owned them at 
the close of the eighteenth century. But events which 
startled the world had been taking place in Europe toward 
the close of that century. Napoleon Bonaparte was in the 
full flush of military triumph, and had raised France to great 
political supremacy on land. He wished also to advance her 
to a high position on sea and in commerce. In furtherance of 
this plan he determined to have Louisiana. He asked the 
king of Spain to cede all that territory to France, and in re- 
turn offered to establish the king's son-in-law upon the throne 
of the new kindgom of Etruria, which he was about to set up. 
The transfer was made on October 1, 1800, and thus the title 
to a territory much larger than alb the thirteen original colo- 
nies was acquired by a stroke of the pen. But the negotia- 
tion was kept secret. Napoleon feared if England knew it at 
once she might make it impossible for him ever to possess the 
country. But, nevertheless, the title to Missouri was now in 
France again. We must see how it came to belong to the 
United States. 

26. The Purchase. — It was not many months till it 
became known in America that the cession had been made. 

(27) 



28 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

The announcement created great unrest throughout the 
country, especially in Kentucky, Tennessee and the entire 
Ohio Valley, which at that time were inhabited by over a 
half million of people, mostly from the Atlantic States. For 
some years before the transfer to France, Spain claimed the 
sole right to control the navigation of the Mississippi, which 
claim she was enabled to enforce because she owned the land 
on both sides of the river at New Orleans. It was by that 
river only that the people of the Ohio country had a way of 
reaching the world's markets, and this claim on the part of 
Spain greatly impeded their trade and aroused them to anger 
and to threaten to take up arms to hold the Mississippi open 
and free to their commerce. The people beyond the AUe- 
ghanies gave little heed to these Ohio troubles till Louisiana 
was transferred to France. Then a protest arose from the 
whole nation. A weak nation like Spain was not to be 
feared, but a powerful one like France, in full control of the 
Mississippi River and with a strong garrison at New Orleans, 
could greatly impair the power, commerce and expansion of 
the United States. President Jefferson, therefore, instructed 
Mr. Livingston, the minister to France, to protest in the name 
of his nation against any attempt by France to occupy 
Louisiana. But about this time England was drawn into the 
war against Napoleon. She was mistress of the sea and could 
easily thwart Napoleon's plans of possessing himself of 
Louisiana. She, too, objected to France having that great 
country, and determined to oppose Napoleon in any attempt to 
possess himself of it. For these reasons and because of the 
demand for all his forces for his military operations on land, 
Napoleon saw the coveted prize had gone from him forever. 
Besides, he was in need of money. But he was determined to 
put it out of the reach of England, and hoping to conciliate 
the United States toward him he proposed to Mr. Livingston 
to sell Louisiana. President Jefferson sent James Monroe, 
afterward President himself, to France to assist in the pur- 



THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 29 

chase of New Orleans and West Florida (the country lying 
between New Orleans and the present Florida, south of the 
31st parallel of latitude, and which by treaty made in 1783 
had been ceded by England to Spain), but on his arrival he 
found Napoleon willing to sell all of Louisiana. Monroe and 
Livingston were wise enough to undertake to purchase the 
larger tract, which would include New Orleans, and to pass 
the acquirement of West Florida to the future. Napoleon 
had instructed his representative (his treasurer, named 
Marbois, whose wife was a native of Mobile) not to take less 
than fifty million francs, but he at first asked one hundred 
million. The American ministers offered eighty million, and 
the trade was soon closed. Of this sum, which amounted to 
$15,000,000, one-fourth was remitted because of the damage 
which had been done to the trade of the Ohio country after 
Louisiana had been transferred from Spain to France. 

27. Terms of the Contract. — The contract of pur- 
chase was dated April 30, 1803, and that has ever since been 
recognized as the date of the purchase, but it was actually 
signed on May 2, 1803. On October 17th the treaty was rati- 
fied in the United States Senate by a vote of twenty-four to 
seven; and, on the 21st, Congress, by a large majority of each 
house, at once provided for the bonds with which to pay for 
the purchase. By Article III of the contract, written by the 
great Napoleon himself, it was stipulated that "the inhab- 
itants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the 
Union of the United States and admitted, as soon as possible, 
according to- the principles of the Federal Constitution, to 
the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities 
of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they 
shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of 
their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess." 
These words are important, because, as we shall see, they 
entered largely into the controversy which grew out of Mis- 
souri's application for admission into the Union. The pur- 



30 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

chase having been made and endorsed by Congress, it only 
remained for the United States to take formal possession of 
the territory. This was easily done. On March 9, 1804, 
the American troops crossed the river and entered St. Louis, 
and Delassus, on the part of Spain, delivered Upper Louis- 
iana to Captain Amos Stoddard, of the United States Army, 
who had been commissioned by France to receive it in her 
behalf, and on the next day he transferred it to the United 
States. The territory thus acquired amounted to over 
900,000 square miles, almost one-third of the entire area of 
the United States at present, and included all the country 
west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains except a 
part of Texas. A government map, "compiled from ofificial 
surveys" some years ago, makes it also include Idaho, Oregon 
and Washington, but it included nothing west of the dividing 
line of the Rocky Mountains — the line beyond which the 
waters run west. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. What territory had Spain acquired by the Fontainebleau treaty 

of 1763? (25) 

2. What miUtary chieftain was in full triumph at the close of the 

eighteenth century? (25) 

3. What did he desire to do with Louisiana? (25) 

4. How did he obtain it? (25) 

5. What effect did the cession to France produce in America? (26) 

Why? (26) 

6. Who was President at this time? (26) 

7. Why was Napoleon compelled to sell Louisiana? (26) 

8. What Americans made the purchase? (26) 

9. What was the price paid? (26) 

10. What was the date of the contract? (27) 

U. What body ratified it? (27) 

12. How was the land paid for? (27) 

13. What is Article HI? (27) Who wrote it? (27) 

14. Why is this article important? (27) 

15. Who took formal possession on behalf of the Union? (27) 

16. What did the purchase include? (27) 



V 

MISSOURFS FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 31 

17. Can you calculate from what is said in sections 26 and 27 what 

was paid per acre for Louisiana? 

18. Can you compare the cost of the purchase with the value of the 

corn crop of Missouri or the amount of gold mined in Colorado 
in a single year? 



CHAPTER II. 

MISSOURI'S FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 

28. The New Arrangement. — Louisiana was divided 
into two parts soon after its transfer to the United States. 
All of it now within the State of Louisiana was then called 
the Territory of Orleans; to the rest was given the name of 
the District of Louisiana at first, but within a year It w^as 
changed to the Territory of Louisiana. It of course em- 
braced the country now called Missouri. For the purposes 
of government the district was attached to the then Territory 
of Indiana, whose governor at that time was General William 
Henry Harrison, afterwards President for a short time. He 
first set In operation the powers of the United States over 
the new territory. The people objected to being attached 
to Indiana, and drew up a remonstrance and petition to Con- 
gress In which they asked to be organized as a territory of 
the second class. Fifteen men, "elected by the free men of 
the district," were chosen to prepare the paper, and of this 
number eight were of French extraction, which fact Indicates 
of what races were the settlers of Missouri at that time, and 
also how readily the Frenchman adopted the political meth- 
ods of his neighbors of English blood, with whom almost alone 
It was a rule to ask for a redress of grievances by petition. 

29. Neglect of Congress. — Their petition was In part 
granted. Congress recognized three grades of territories at 
that time. The district was separated from Indiana and 
erected Into a Territory of the first or lowest grade, Instead of 
the second, for which they had asked. The Governor and 



32 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

three judges, to be appointed by the President, were to make 
laws for the government of the Territory, subject all the time 
of course to the approval of Congress. This was agreeable 
to the people. But nothing was done toward a settlement of 
the disputed titles to their lands. These were in great con- 
fusion because of the loose way in which the Spanish had 
always made surveys and grants of land, and because much 
soil had been granted to settlers by the Spanish rulers after 
the territory had been ceded to France in 1800 and before it 
had been transferred to the United States in 1804. Nothing 
was done toward remedying the uncertainty of the land- 
claimants' tenures, and as a result immigration was greatly 
retarded, and the people undertook to defend their titles for 
themselves. In some cases the adverse claimants to the soil, 
with gun in hand, determined between themselves who should 
be its owner. But in 1812, after a delay of nearly eight years, 
Congress passed a law confirming the titles of the inhab- 
itants of the different villages to the lands which they had 
occupied prior to the Louisiana purchase. This gave the 
desired relief. The tide of immigration now set in strongly 
again and the price of land increased, in some instances six 
hundred per cent in a few years. It must be remembered, 
however, that these disorders in regard to the land titles were 
almost entirely confined to those parts of the territory which 
had been settled during the Spanish domination and which 
now were fast losing their French aspect because of the rapid 
influx of persons of English blood. 

30. First Territorial Governor. — The first Governor 
appointed under the new order of things was General James 
Wilkinson. With him were associated as chief justice, J. B. 
C. Lucas, a very worthy gentleman, who had been a judge 
in Pennsylvania; and as secretary. Dr. Joseph Browne, who 
was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr, by whose request he ob- 
tained the appointment.. Just at the time of Wilkinson's ap- 
pointment the dissatisfaction above spoken of in regard to 



MISSOURI'S FIRST YEARS AS A TERRITORY. 33 

land titles was beginning. His personal popularity as a man, 
and his extensive experience in public affairs, it was thought, 
would check all this, and bring the United States government 
into popular favor with the inhabitants whose traditions, cus- 
toms and blood were so very different from those of the rest 
of the Union. But this proved to be a sad mistake. To 
properly understand why that was true it will be necessary 
to speak of the unusual course of Aaron Burr and Wilkinson's 
connection therewith. Before doing so, however, it is proper 
to state that Wilkinson's popularity was undeserved. It 
was based on his long prominence rather than upon any 
exact information in Washington of his real character. He 
had been an officer in the Revolutionary War, and after its 
close was a colonel in the Standing Army, and when General 
Wayne died became its chief general, but it developed in 
after years that while holding that position of trust he was 
secretly receiving money from Spain and for years had been 
in covert collusion with the Spanish governor at New Orleans 
to wrest Kentucky (where he resided) and Tennessee from 
their allegiance to the United States. 

31. Burr and Wilkinson. — In 1801 Aaron Burr had been 
elected Vice-President, and prevented from being President 
only by a very narrow majority vote of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. Becoming unpopular as a politician, sour at his 
disappointment, but still ambitious for political renown, to- 
ward the close of his term he came to the West with the ob- 
ject of revolutionizing Mexico, making himself its ruler, and 
ultimately attaching all the country west of the Alleghanies 
to his dominions. He expected his chief support from the 
Territory of Louisiana. There is no reason to believe that 
Wilkinson was not influenced by him and perhaps half- 
heartedly and secretly joined in his plans. Burr visited the 
Territory in September, 1805, and in 1807 he was put on trial 
for conspiring to break up the Union, and the next year 
Wilkinson was tried as an accessory to his crime. The latter 



34 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

was the principal witness against Burr and in the course of 
the trial was able to show that he had written to the proper 
authorities at Washington more than a year before the final 
collapse of Burr's plans, that "Burr was about something, 
and an eye ought to be kept on him." This letter perhaps 
prevented Wilkinson's conviction, but it will be seen that it 
was written a year after Burr had first visited him. In fact 
the evidence seems strong that Wilkinson at first secretly 
supported Burr, but within a year, from fear of the results or 
from some other equally good cause, concluded it best not to 
yoke his fortunes with Burr's any longer. Wilkinson, be- 
sides his compromising relations with Burr, was a speculator 
in land and his conduct was otherwise odious to the people. 
Hence he was removed after acting as Governor about two 
years and was succeeded by Captain Meriwether Lewis, of 
the celebrated Lewis-and-Clark Expedition. Wilkinson after- 
ward became prominent in the war of 1812, but to this day 
his name is held in contempt. 

32. Other Immigrants. — In the meantime the people 
prospered. The population, at first confined almost entirely 
to the villages, had begun to extend itself into the surround- 
ing forests and prairies. Settlers had found their way into 
Warren County, into Franklin County and along the Gasconade. 
Most of the immigrants at this time w^ere from the Atlantic 
States. Their industry and enterprise soon gave them a 
controlling influence. They occupied the most prominent 
positions and took the lead in business and in cultivating the 
lands. No more immigrants came from France or Spain. 
Lands began to have a recognized value and soon speculations 
in them were active. The pursuits of the people began to 
be largely agricultural. In 1808 the first newspaper was 
established. It was the first paper published v/est of the 
Mississippi River. It was called the "Missouri Gazette," 
and with varying success has been continuously published 
since. Its present name is the "St. Louis Republic." 



EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 



35 



2. 
3. 
4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 
10. 
11. 



(28) 



Questions on Chapter II. 

1. How was Louisiana divided? (28) 

What was that part including Missouri called? 

To what was it attached? (28) 

How did Congress provide for the governme'nt of the Territory? 

(29) 
What was the effect of Congress's neglect? (29) 
Who was the first Territorial Governor? (30) 
What is said of him? (30) 
Describe Burr's and Wilkinson's conspiracies? 
Who was the next Territorial Governor? (31) 
What is said of new immigrants? (32) 
Where did they settle? (32) 



(31) 



■^mJ 



CHAPTER III. 

EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. 

33. The Famous Expedition of Lewis and Clark was 
projected by President JefTerson soon after the purchase of 
Louisiana, and was placed in 
charge of Captain Lewis, the 
President's private secretary, 
and Captain William Clark of 
the United States Army, . a 
brother of George Rogers Clark. 
Each of these gentlemen after- 
ward became Territorial Gov- 
ernor of Missouri by appoint- 
ment. The company was com- 
posed of nine young men from 
Kentucky, fourteen soldiers, two 
French boatmen, two hunters, 
an interpreter, and a few 
servants. They began the as- 
cent of the Missouri River in 
May, 1804. Near the mouth 

of the Gasconade they passed the last white man's house 
they were to see until their return. They ascended the 




Meriwether Lewis. 



36 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Missouri to its head waters, stopping off frequently to explore 
the surrounding country, collected facts about the character 
and strength of the various Indian tribes, about the fertility 
of the soil, and the number and extent of the tributaries of 
this long river. They spent the first winter just this side of 
the Rocky Mountains in forts constructed by themselves. 
Early next spring they began crossing the mountains and 
had many a sharp and wild encounter with grizzly bears, 
mountain lions and other animals. In November, 1805, 
they reached the ocean, having traveled over four thousand 
miles. They spent the winter at the mouth of the Columbia 
River, and as the spring approached started on their return 
homeward. It was the first expedition of the kind ever 
undertaken by our Government, and the return of the party 
in September, 1806, safe and successful, after an absence of 
over two years, was hailed with delight throughout the 
entire West. Congress joined in the general acclaim and 
voted each of the persons engaged in the expedition a tract 
of land in recognition of his services; and in further reward 
for Captain Lewis's services, he was appointed Governor of 
the Territory which he had done so much to make known. 

34. Pike's Expedition. — About the same time Zebu- 
Ion Montgomery Pike made like expeditions to the sources 
of the Mississippi, Arkansas, Platte and Kansas, and thereby 
really rendered almost as much service to Missouri as did the 
expedition of Lewis and Clark. In 1810 the journals of 
travels kept by Pike were published, with miaps and atlases 
of the country explored, and extensively read. They fur- 
nished the first reliable information of the extent and value 
of the new country. After their appearance all complaints 
about the amount paid for Louisiana were hushed. Pike 
County, in the eastern part of the State, was named for this 
energetic explorer. It was because of his well-earned celeb- 
rity, perhaps, that many people in the Eastern States for a 



THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 37 

long time knew the name of only one county in Missouri and 
that was Pike. 

Questions on Chapter III. 

1. What celebrated expedition is discussed in this chapter? (33) 

2. Who were in charge ofit? (33) 

3. Describe their journey. (33) 

4. How was their return received? (33) 

5. What is said of Zebulon Pike's Expedition? (34) 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE NEW MADRID EARTHQUAKE. 

35. Earthquakes. — A little after midnight of Decem- 
ber 16, 1811, began a series of earthquakes among the most 
extensive and destructive in the world's history. They ex- 
tended over half a hemisphere. Sabrina, one of the Azores 
Islands, was elevated 360 feet above the level of the sea. 
Caracas, a city of Venezuela of 10,000 people, was totally 
destroyed and sunk sixty feet under water. In North Amer- 
ica, the center of the earthquake disturbances, both in 
point of violence and in position, was near New Madrid, on 
the Mississippi River, in the southeastern part of Missouri. 
The disturbances extended north to the mouth of the Ohio 
River, south to the mouth of the St. Francois, and far into 
Arkansas and Tennessee. They began in a sudden shock 
which shook down walls, wrecked houses, tore up trees and 
set many things on the surface topsy-turvy. This was fol- 
lowed by undulations of the earth resembling waves, increas- 
ing in elevation as they advanced, and when they had at- 
tained a fearful height, the earth would then burst and vast 
volumes of water, sand and pit-coal were thrown up as high 
as the tops of trees. The earth rocked and reeled under men's 
feet. Fissures were formed, six hundred and even seven 
hundred feet in length, and twenty or thirty in breadth. 
Large oak trees were split in the center and forty feet up the 



38 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

trunk, and one part left standing on one side of the fissure, 
and the other part on the other twenty feet distant. There 
issued no burning flames, but flashes such as result from the 
explosions of gas. The atmosphere was filled with this thick 
gas, to which the light imparted a purple hue. The waters 
in the Mississippi River suddenly rose several feet. In some 
places trees which had rested on the bottom of the river for 
perhaps centuries were elevated above the water and yet 
rested on the soil. Other places off the shore suddenly sunk 
and the water overflowed them. The water thrown up dur- 
ing the eruption of the ''land waves" was lukewarm, so warm 
as to produce no chilly sensation to persons wading or swim- 
ming through it. Many fissures, besides the ones described, 
were of an oval or circular form, forced up to a considerable 
height, and others formed large and deep basins one hundred 
yards in diameter. 

36. Remarkable Results. — A marked result of these 
land disturbances was the great depressions and elevations of 
the surface. Great tracts of country which hitherto had 
been lakes became dry land, and much dry land became lakes. 
Reelfoot Lake, on the opposite side of the river in Tennessee, 
twenty miles long and seven wide, was formed. The trunks 
of dead oaks and cypresses above thirty feet in height are at 
its bottom, over which boats can now be plied without inter- 
ruption. A large extent of country on the Missouri side of 
the river was sunk ten feet below its former elevation. Much 
of the soil was ruined for agricultural purposes. 

37. New Madrid Claims. — Afterwards Congress at- 
tempted to give relief by passing a law granting to each 
owner who had sustained serious loss a section of land in 
what was known as the ''Boone's Lick Country," on condi- 
tion that he relinquish his desolated farm to the Government. 
Perhaps twice as much land was "located" under this law 
as was ever destroyed in the New Madrid country. The "lo- 
cations" were called New Madrid claims, and because of 



OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 39 

their conflict with other entries were the source of much 
Htigation. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. What results of the earthquake of 1811 are mentioned? (35) 

2. What was its center in North America? (35) 

3. Describe some of its features. (35) 

4. What other remarkable results are mentioned (? 36) 

5. What are "New Madrid claims?" (37) 

6. How much land was settled under these claims? (37) 



CHAPTER V. 

OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 

38. First English Settlements. — There were a number 
of small and scattered settlements in St. Charles, Gasco- 
nade and Warren counties as early as 1800 and the ten years 
succeeding. But we have now come to the first important 
settlement by people of English blood within Missouri. It 
was in Howard County, in the river bottom near Franklin, 
in 1810. The country had been previously visited by William 
Nash and some surveyors in 1804, who located claims, and 
again by Lewis and Clark, who explored the country and 
speak of having encountered many rattlesnakes there. In 
1807 Nathan and Daniel Boone, at this time residents in St. 
Charles County, and sons of the celebrated Daniel Boone, be- 
gan the manufacture of salt at Boone's Lick in the western 
part of what is now Howard County. This they shipped 
down the river in canoes made from logs, hollowed out and 
made water-proof by daubing the open places with clay. 
Col. Benjamin Cooper with his large family joined them in 
1808, but Governor Lewis informed them that the protection 
of the Government from the Indians would not be extended 
to them at that distant home, and ordered them to return to 
the Gasconade settlement. This they did, but in 1810 
Cooper, accompanied by about one hundred and fifty fami- 



40 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 




. '<^^. 



lies, mostly from Madison County, Kentucky, again came to 
Howard County, and of this great number all settled in 
Howard except Stephen and Hannah Cole, who crossed the 
river and became the first settlers of Cooper County, settling 
near the present site of Boonville. 

39. Daniel Boone was a man whose like this country 
perhaps will never see again. His father came from England 
and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where Daniel was 
born, July 14, 1732 (the same year in which George Wash- 
ington was born), and where he received the rudest educa- 
tion. When he was eighteen years old his family moved to 
North Carolina. In 1769 with five hunters he explored the 
border regions of Kentucky, and 
was captured by the Indians, 
but soon made his escape. In 
a short time he was joined by 
his brother, and both were 
captured and a companion 
was killed. They escaped, his 
brother returned to North Caro- 
lina and he was left alone in the 
wilderness with only his rifle to 
gain subsistence and defend 
himself from the Indians. He 
continued his explorations, and 
in 1773 moved to Kentucky 
with seven other families, and 
was soon employed to lay out 
the lands by Virginia, of which Kentucky was then a part, and 
in commanding the garrisons which had been established fbr 
fighting the Indians. His life in Kentucky was spent in 
hunting, fighting the Indians, being captured by them and 
escaping. In 1792 he lost his lands because of defective 
title and quitted Kentucky in disgust. Hearing of very 
fertile lands in Missouri, he came here about 1794 and settled 







Daniel Boone. 



OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 41 

forty-five miles northwest of St. Louis, in what is now Warren 
County. There he obtained a grant of ten thousand acres of 
land, by reason of an agreement he formed with Delassus to 
bring one hundred and fifty families into Upper Louivsiana 
from Virginia and Kentucky. But the grant was never con- 
firmed because Boone failed to get the signature thereto 
of the direct representative of the Spanish crown. After- 
ward Congress granted him one thousand acres for his heroic 
public services. He spent most of his latter da^^s with his 
son, Major Nathan Boone, and died in 1820 in his house, 
a two-story stone, the first of its kind in Missouri, some six 
miles from the Missouri River in St. Charles County. His 
body was buried in a cherry cofiin which he had prepared 
himself and kept ready for years. The Legislature adjourned 
for one day out of respect for the old hero. The remains 
of himself and wife were afterward removed to Kentucky and 
interred with ceremonial pomp at Frankfort in 1845. 

40. Lewis and Howard.^— Wilkinson, the first Gov- 
ernor of the Territory of Louisiana, was succeeded in the spring 
of 1807 by Meriwether Lewis, who, while on his way to 
Washington, committed suicide in 1809 by shooting himself. 
He had been high-minded and studious from early boyhood, 
was a man of ability and faithful and heroic public service, 
but at times was subject to fits of deep despondency, and it 
was supposed that it was while in one of these that he took his 
life at the lonely wayside house in Tennessee, at which he had 
stopped to rest. But his death has always been shrouded 
in mystery. There have always been persons to assert that 
he did not commit suicide at all, but was murdered, and there 
were suspicious circumstances to give color to that assertion. 
But President Jefferson, who wrote a biographical sketch of 
him, says he committed suicide. President Madison ap- 
pointed as his successor Gen. Benjamin Howard of Lexington, 
Kentucky. In 1812 Congress passed a law by which on the 
twelfth of December of that year Louisiana was to be ad- 



42 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



vanced from the first to the second grade of Territories, and 
its name changed to Missouri. The last official act of Gov- 
ernor Howard was to issue a proclamation ordering an elec- 
tion to be held in November for a delegate to Congress and 
for members of the Territorial Legislature to be organized 
under this law. He resigned soon after this to become 
Brigadier-General in the army during the war of 1812, and 
died in St. Louis in 1814, having filled his position with com- 
mendable merit. Howard County, which was settled while 
he was Governor, was named in his honor. 

41. Clark and Hempstead. — Governor Howard was 
succeeded by Captain William Clark, of the celebrated ex- 
pedition of Lewis and Clark. 
He served as Governor till Mis- 
souri was admitted into the 
Union. No man ever in the 
West had more influence over 
the Indians than did ''Red- 
head," the name by which 
Clark was called by them. He 
stood between them and the 
whites for years, was always 
their trusted friend and averted 
many a threatened invasion 
by them, and succeeded in 
amicably purchasing their lands 
for the United States or obtain- 
ing them by treaty. 

Edward Hempstead, of St. 
Louis, was elected the first delegate to Congress in 1812. 
He w^as succeeded in 1815 by Rufus Easton, and he in 1817 
by John Scott, who served till Missouri became a State. All 
were honorable and able men. 

By an act of Congress in 1816 Missouri was advanced 
to the third or highest grade of territorial government. 




William Clark. 



OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 43 

42. Franklin. — The settlement about Boone's Lick 
grew rapidly. However, the Indians, especially the Potta- 
watomies and Foxes, stole the settlers' horses and kept them 
in almost constant alarm. Five different forts were built 
for their protection, but nevertheless many of the prom- 
inent men were killed, some of them in their own houses. 
Yet there was no power to avenge their wrongs or to prevent 
these recurrences except the strength of their own arms, for 
this part of the Territory at that time was beyond the organ- 
ized jurisdiction of any government. In 1816 Franklin was 
laid off opposite the present site of Boonville. It was the 
first town of any importance west of St. Charles. It grew 
rapidly and soon came to have considerable population. In- 
deed, for many years Franklin was the center of society and 
commerce for all that class of immigrants who came from 
the older States, and who for the most part settled, not in 
St. Louis and south of it along the Mississippi, but in what soon 
became Howard County. Among its inhabitants were men 
who afterward became the most prominent Governors and 
useful Supreme Judges of the State. It was for many years 
a Government land office, with Thos. A. Smith as Receiver 
and Charles Carroll as Register. It had the first newspaper 
published west of St. Louis, which still lives in the Columbia 
Statesman. The old town has long since been mostly washed 
away by the encroachings of the Missouri River. 

43. Howard County. — Howard County was organized 
in 1816. It at first included all that territory from which 
have since been carved thirty-one counties, twelve south of 
the Missouri River and nineteen north of it. For this reason 
it was long known as the "mother of counties." Its seat of 
justice was first Cole's Fort, on the south side of the river in 
Cooper county; in 1817 it was removed to Franklin and in 
1823 to Fayette. It was long the center of political influence 
in the State, and in the early days "Howard County, the 
mother of Missouri Democracy," was frequently heard. 



44 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Around Franklin as a center, population rapidly increased, 
and in a few years it had spread out into what afterwards 
became Boone, Callaway, Cooper and Chariton counties. 
All central Missouri was being rapidly transformed from a 
wilderness into happy homes. 

44. Tide of Immigration. — The War of 1812 ended 
in 1815. At its close immigration to Missouri set in more 
rapidly than perhaps was ever elsewhere known in the United 
States up to that time. The rush was greatest from Vir- 
ginia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee. In less 
numbers they came from New York and New England, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. As many as one 
hundred persons are said to have "passed through St. Charles 
in one day on their way to Boone's Lick, and this rate was 
kept up for many days together." Many of these "movers" 
brought with them a hundred head of cattle, besides hogs, 
horses and sheep and from three to twelve slaves. These 
long trains presented a sight which will never be seen in this 
country again. There was a huge wagon filled with the 
family's "plunder," drawn by three or four yoke of oxen. 
Next came the herds of cattle and sheep, each with many 
bells, making a beautiful chime, and as this mingled with the 
dull thud of the wagon, the coarse voice of the herder and 
*driver, a peculiar impression was made which only those can 
appreciate who have heard it. At night the family would 
gather around the camp fire, the cattle would lie down and 
ruminate, and the "movers'" would recount the thrilling inci- 
dents of the day; and if there were any slaves they would 
join in, and embrace every opportunity to proclaim the 
"quality" of their masters' families. 

45. Pioneer Life. — Coming to Missouri in those days 
was not an easy journey. It was a long way, a hard way, 
and sometimes dangerous. No army had gone ahead of the 
pioneer to build a great Roman road through the wilderness. 
As he pushed out into the central part of the territory, he 



OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 45 

had to cut his own way and provide his own means of crossing 
the rivers and creeks. Vicious wolves and Indians lay in 
ambush. For days and weeks he and his wife and children 
heard not another human voice. And the same isolation 
and loneliness surrounded him after he reached his destina- 
tion, and began his clearing in the woods; for, having arrived 
at his journey's end, his first business was to look him out a 
farm. Speculators had done much to confuse titles, but rich 
land was abundant, and with a little care he found easy oppor- 
tunity to "open him up a farm." A log cabin was raised, and 
the land inclosed with what was known as the "Virginia rail 
fence." Until his first crop was ripe he could easily obtain 
a subsistence for himself and family by hunting and trapping. 
At that time the forests, and even prairies, abounded in deer, 
bear, wolves, panthers, wild cats, turkeys and various other 
game. The flesh of some of these, such as the deer and bear, 
furnished him food, and the skins of others were made into 
serviceable clothes, or sold for money to the enterprising 
French fur traders or exchanged for shoes or useful fabrics. 

. But he was far away from the throbbing world. There 
were no railroads, and it was not until 1817 that the first 
steamboat ascended the Mississippi. There were no post 
routes or mail carriers, few newspapers reached him, he had 
few books, schools were few and far between, and only occa- 
sionally did he hear the Gospel preached. Indians were 
about him, and were not always friendly. The fiercer wild 
animals attacked his young cattle, and often carried away his 
lambs and pigs. His house and utensils and clothing were 
the result of his own handiwork, and he was at one and the 
same time a farmer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a tanner, a 
shoemaker, a weaver, a tailor, a fighter of Indians and wild 
beasts. This enforced skill of his hands brought him to see 
that he was master of material things, and that with the 
strength of his own right arm and the mind which directed it 
he could take dominion over the physical world. 



46 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

He had heard "the call of the wild," and he had come 
to virgin Missouri because there rang in his soul God's com- 
mand to take dominion over the earth and subdue it, and 
because, having foresight, he thought the new country would 
afford him and his children after him the largest opportunity 
for acquiring land and establishing homes. He loved the 
woods and the prairies; he was fond of chasing the buffalo 
and the deer and the fox, of hunting the wild turkey and prairie 
chicken and wild honey, of trapping for the beaver and the 
otter; but he did that because it was good sport, because 
it afforded him means of obtaining food and clothing, and 
because he was a very natural and a very sound man. 

Nor was his almost complete isolation from the big 
world he had left behind without its recompense; it strength- 
ened the family bond. Families were large, and its members 
found their company in each other. The companionship of 
husband and wife was closer and finer than in these days of 
thousands of daily distractions. It also taught him the value 
of hospitality. He was naturally a friendly man. He opened 
his doors to the passing stranger, and importuned him to take 
a place at his table and to sleep in his best bed. He was not 
only a rugged man; he was a man with the candor and kind- 
ness and truthfulness that self-mastery produces. 

46. His House. — His log cabin differed somewhat 
from the houses of the French settlers. The posts were not 
set upright and slats nailed horizontally to them, as was the 
fashion with the French settler, but instead, he generally 
used large logs, hewn into shape, and fitted into one another 
by means of notches in the ends. These were laid one on 
another, in the shape of a pen, and the spaces between were 
filled with pieces of wood called "chinking" and around these 
was daubed a plaster made of clay. The door was made of 
heavy cross-pieces and rough-hewn boards. They were hung 
on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch on the 
inside. The latch could be raised from the outside by a 



OTHER SET.TLEMENTS. 47 

string attached to it which passed through a hole in the door 
above the latch. To lock the door was simply to draw the 
string inside, and so "my latch-string always hangs on the 
outside" became a popular term of hospitality and an assur- 
ance of welcome to the neighbor or passing stranger. The 
windows were without glass. The light was admitted by the 
shutter which stood ajar, or through greased paper attached 
to a framework something like a sash. Sometimes the cabin 
was thirty feet square, and if two rooms were built a wide 
hall ran between, and the larger room was called the "big 
house." As the farmer grew wealthier, population increased, 
and the means of transportation improved, all these things 
gave way to the conveniences of modern life. 

47. His Money. — He had little money, and indeed had 
need for but little. He raised his own food. The materials 
for his clothing were grown in his fields or sheared from his 
flocks and were converted into cloth and made into garments 
by the women of the household. What trading he did was 
mere barter; that is, the exchange of one article for another. 
Peltries, lead and its product in the shape of shot, were used 
in the place of money. There were Spanish dollars, however, 
and these were often cut into halves, quarters, and even eighths, 
which, because of their small size, came to be called "bits," 
and so to this day a "bit" is twelve and a half cents. For 
any less amount pins, needles, sheets of writing paper, and 
other articles of small value were used. 

48. Lead and the Fur Trade. — But agriculture was not 
the only pursuit. Lead w^as produced in great abundance. 
"One million five hundred thousand pounds were annually 
turned out by the Meramec mines alone, which gave employ- 
ment to three hundred and fifty hands, exclusive of smelters, 
blacksmiths and others." Much of it was turned into shot 
and a tower for that purpose was erected at Ste. Genevieve. 
The fur trade was very large. As early as 1804 it amounted 



48 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

to two hundred thousand dollars per annum. Large trading 
companies, with headquarters in St. Louis, were organized, 
which sent out trappers along almost every tributary of the 
Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. The foundation for many 
a large fortune was thus laid. The Chouteaus of St. Louis 
through this fur trade were known in Europe for more than 
a half century. The better peltries were those of the otter, 
beaver, bear and buffalo. These were shipped to France and 
exchanged for shoes, fabrics, sugar and guns. Thus both 
countries were benefited, each getting things they could not 
then produce, but needed. 

49. The First Steamboats.— In 1811, the New Orleans, 
the first steamboat built west of the Alleghany Mountains, 
made the trip from Pittsburg to New Orleans. This settled 
forever the question of the use of steam as a motive power 
on the w^estern waters. In the next eight years sixty-three 
steamers were built and plied on the Ohio and Mississippi. On 
the second of August, 1817, the first steamboat that ever 
ascended the Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio arrived 
at St. Louis. Its name was General Pike and Its master was 
Jacob Read. On May 28, 1819, the Independence, the first 
steamboat to ascend the Missouri, arrived at Franklin, having 
been twelve days on the journey from St. Louis. Soon after 
this, steamboats became common on these rivers, and their 
appearance, which was at first dazzling, became a familiar 
sight. They added a new impetus to commerce and assisted 
much in the speedy delivery of the mails. Yet these conven- 
iences could scarcely be compared to our modern railroads. 
It usually took a letter from four to six wrecks to come from 
New York or Washington, and the postage on a single letter, 
even many years afterward, was twenty-five cents. 

50. Business Depressions. — The last few years before 
Missouri's admission into the Union was a season of severe 
trial in finances. The year 1818 found nearly everybody in 
debt. The Bank of St. Louis was established in 1816, and 



OTHER SETTLEMENTS. 49 

the next year the Bank of Missouri, with a capital of $250,000, 
was organized. These for a time increased the volume of 
business, but also aided reckless speculation. Government 
land was sold for two dollars an acre, one-fourth to be paid in 
cash and the rest in two, three and four years. So numerous 
were the failures on account of the mania for speculation in 
land that rarely none but the first payment was made. Dealing 
at the stores was also upon credit. Payments were made 
with promissory notes or bank notes, which were considered 
as good as cash. These of course drove out the coin; and 
when the day of final settlement came there was no money 
with which to make payments. Land and all kinds of farm 
products, though abundant, were unsalable. The Territorial 
Legislature tried to give relief by issuing "land loan notes" 
which were made receivable for taxes and debts of every kind 
due the State. The United States Supreme Court set this act 
aside as being in violation of the provision of the Constitution 
which forbids any State to "issue bills of credit," and for doing 
so was of course roundly denounced, but relief came in time, 
though slowly, as is usual after such depressions. 

51. Population. — The population of the entire terri- 
tory now known as Missouri was about 20,000 in 1810. In 
1820 it was 66,000. The population of St. Louis in 1811 was 
about 1400, "composed of a motley mixture of Canadian- 
French, a few Spaniards and other Europeans, and a some- 
what larger proportion of Americans." In 1820 it was 4,928. 
Of the population of this territory in 1820 about 10,000 were 
slaves. The number of counties increased from five to fifteen 
in the ten years preceding 1820. 

Questions on Chapter V. 

1. Where was the first important English settlement? (38) 

2. Who was in charge of it? (38) 

3. Where were the settlers from? (38) 

4. What is said of Daniel Boone? (39) 

5. Who succeeded Wilkinson as Governor? (40) 



50 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

7. What is said of General Howard? (40) 

8. Who succeeded him? (41) 

9. W^hat is said of Clark? (41) 

10. Who was the first delegate in Congress? (41) 

11. Name two others. (41) 

12. What is said of Franklin? (42) 

13. What is said of Howard county? (43) 

14. For whom was it named? (40) 

15. What is said of the immigrant? (44) 

16. Describe pioneer life. (4^) 

17. Describe his house. (46) 

18. What was used for money? (47) 

19. What is said of lead? (48) 

20. Of the fur trade? (48) 

21. What was the first steamboat on the Ohio? (49) 

22. What was the first to reach St. Louis? (49) 

23. How long did it take the first steamboat to go from St. Louis 

to Franklin? (49) 

24. How did steamboats help? (49) 

25. What is said of financial troubles? (50) 

26. Population in 1810 and 1820? (51) 

6. When and by whom was this territory named Missouri? (40) 



PART III. 

MISSOURI AS A STATE. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 

52. Application to Become a State. — The Territorial 
Legislature made application for the admission of Missouri 
into the Union as a State in 1818. The application pro- 
duced a violent sectional issue in American politics. It 
opened up a long acrimonious struggle between the North 
and South for political supremacy in the nation. That strug- 
gle, attended with bitterness from its beginning, continued 
up to the time of the Civil War, through that war, and has 
scarcely ended even yet. The people of Missouri wished to 
decide for themselves whether slavery should exist in the 
State. To this the North urged two strong objections. 

53. First Objection. — The first was, the people were 
sure to permit slavery. It existed in the Territory at the 
time of the application; had been here for fifty years, and 
nothing was surer than that the people would not voluntarily 
abolish it. Since 1787 slavery had not existed north of the 
Ohio River, above the latitude of which lies much of Missouri. 
The admission of Missouri would be a precedent. If the 
privilege were given to her people to decide upon the exist- 
ence of slavery within her borders, so must it be extended to 
the whole Louisiana Purchase. Missouri was on the border 
line between free and slave labor. The question, then, was 
whether Congress would interfere with the further extension 
of slavery. If permitted to exist in Missouri, without some 

(51) 



52 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

limitations, now agreed upon, it might, by the voice of the 
people, exist in all the Louisiana Purchase. Against its fur- 
ther extension many citizens throughout the North protested 
in the name of freedom, humanity and a higher civilization, 

54. The Second Objection. — The second objection 
was, the admission of Missouri would turn over the control 
of the nation from the North to the South, It was also the 
real objection, the one which did most in controlling the 
Northern members in Congress. The Union had been orig- 
inally formed of seven free and six slave States. Up to 
February, 1819, there had always been one more free than 
slave states, there being at this time eleven free States and 
ten slave States. All the Presidents except John Adams 
had been Southern men, but the free States had acquired a 
large and constantly increasing predominance in Congress. 
This was the political situation early in 1819 when the appli- 
cation of Missouri and Alabama to become States came up in 
Congress. Both were slave Territories, both had been settled 
by emigrants mostly from slave States, and of course it was 
assumed that their political affiliations would be with the 
South. If admitted, the number of slave States would be 
increased from ten to twelve, while the free States would re- 
main eleven. This would give the South the ascendency in 
the Senate, possibly in the House and nation. 

55. Alabama. — Georgia had ceded Alabama's terri- 
tory to the Union, and in doing so had made stipulations in 
regard to slavery, which were regarded by Congress as de- 
ciding that slavery as a form of labor might exist in that State. 
Accordingly Alabama was admitted without opposition as 
a slave State. This made the' number of Northern and South- 
ern States exactly the same. The fight for political suprem- 
acy, therefore, was not made over Alabama, but Missouri, 
which lay much further north, and was supposed to be con- 
nectional ground between the free-labor and the slavery 
States, and might, therefore, be claimed by either. The South 



THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 53 

espoused the cause of the people of Missouri because it wished 
to gain poHtical ascendency in Congress and because it was 
intimately interested in the extension of slavery. 

56. The Tallmadge Resolution. — The struggle for the 
admission of Missouri was precipitated in Congress by a reso- 
lution of Mr. Tallmadge of New York : "That the further intro- 
duction of slavery shall be prohibited; and that all children 
born within the State after the admission thereof shall be 
free at the age of twenty-five years." This led to a long dis- 
cussion in which hot and bitter words were bandied to and fro 
with frequency. It will be remembered that when the con- 
tract of purchase was signed, transferring Louisiana from 
France to the United States, article third, written by the 
great Napoleon, provided that "the inhabitants of the ceded 
territory shall be incorporated into the Union of the United 
States, and admitted as soon as possible according to the 
principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of 
all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the 
United States, and in the meantime they shall be maintained 
and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property 
and the religion which they profess." This contract, with 
this article in it, was accepted in 1803 by Congress. It was 
now seized upon by the opponents of the Tallmadge resolution 
as having settled the question of slavery in Missouri before 
her application for admission. Slaves, it was contended, 
were property. Slavery existed in the Territory when the 
terms of purchase from Napoleon were signed, when those 
terms w^ere accepted by Congress, and had been here ever 
since. If, therefore, slavery was to be prohibited here it 
should be left to the State itself to do so. Besides, it was 
further contended that these terms of purchase were exactly 
similar in their tenor to the stipulations Georgia had made 
when ceding Alabama, which stipulations obtained for that 
State the right to abolish or maintain slavery as she pleased. 



54 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

57. Discordant Views. — To deny Missouri the same 
right was, therefore, to take from her her dignity as one of a 
union of equal States, to make her yield to conditions which 
had never before been imposed on any State, and w^hich 
would not now be attempted in her case if the free still out- 
numbered the slave States. This point was' urged with great 
ability by John Scott, Missouri's delegate then in Congress, 
who felt that to deprive the people of the right of choosing 
their own local institutions was a humiliating condition, and 
violated the old maxim that "all governments derive their just 
powers from the consent of the governed." In reply to him 
it was held that slavery existed only by virtue of a local law ; 
that it had never been sanctioned by national laws, and that 
on the contrary the Constitution had from the first implied 
an opposition to it, in that it contained an agreement that 
the slave trade should cease in 1808. The supporters of the 
Tallmadge resolution further held that slavery was not only a 
moral wrong, a political evil, a commercial weakness, but it 
was contrary to universal freedom which must necessarily 
inhere in a republic. These views were so discordant that one 
would scarcely suppose a compromise for Missouri's admis- 
sion could ever be reached. Yet such was the fact. 

58. The Missouri Compromise. — This was accomplished 
by the application of Maine for admission in December, 
1819, and while Missouri's case yet seemed hopeless. Maine 
would, of course, be a free State. Had she applied for ad- 
mission at the same time Alabama and Missouri did, perhaps 
all the contention of which we have spoken would never have 
arisen. Then, admitting the three at once, the free would 
not have been outnumbered by the slave States. As it was, 
those in favor of letting Missouri settle the question of slavery 
for herself, declared both Missouri and Maine should be 
admitted without regard to slavery or both kept out. This 
brought on a deadlock in Congress, which lasted for weeks 
and finally ended in a measure known as the "Missouri 



THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 55 

Compromise." This was an agreement that Maine should 
be brought into the Union; that Missouri should settle 
for herself the question of the existence of slavery within her 
territory; and that slavery should forever be prohibited 
from all other territory "north of thirty-six degrees and 
thirty minutes north latitude," which was the south line of 
Missouri. The agreement was implied, though not expressed, 
that Missouri should be admitted into the Union according 
to this agreement. This compromise opened up the way 
for Missouri's admission. In 1857, long after that was accom- 
plished, the Supreme Court of the United States declared 
this compromise, by which slavery was excluded north of 
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, unconstitutional, and 
that, therefore, the South had no right to yield to it and the 
North no right to ask it. 

59. The First Constitution. — But the people of Mis- 
souri accepted the compromise as final, and began at once to 
form a State government. A convention to frame a Constitu- 
tion met in a hotel, known as the ''Mansion House," in St. 
Louis, early in June, 1820. David Barton was elected 
president. Among its members were some very able men. 
Some of them were afterwards very prominent in the affairs 
of the State, such as David Barton, Edward Bates, Alexander 
McNair, Thomas F. Riddick, John Rice Jones, Duff Green, 
Pierre Chouteau, Benjamin Reeves, Alexander Buckner, 
John D. Cook and John Scott. There were in all forty-one 
members. They were in session a little over a month, and 
spent for stationery $26.25 and framed a Constitution which 
took effect immediately without submission to a vote of the 
people. This Constitution was to pass through the fiery 
ordeal of being approved by Congress before Missouri could 
become a State. As had been supposed all along, the Con- 
stitution permitted the existence of slavery. It was reason- 
ably and properly supposed by the people of Missouri and by 
the South that the Northern delegates had consented to this 



56 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

by the agreement known as the Missouri Compromise. But 
now when the State claimed a fulfillment of this promise Con- 
gress would not stand to the agreement, and hence a second 
compromise had to be agreed upon. 

60. One Clause of Missouri's Constitution stipu- 
lated its Legislature should enact a law to "prevent free ne- 
groes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in the State." 
This clause, it was now contended, was contrary to a pro- 
vision of the Federal Constitution which guaranteed to "the 
citizens of each State the privileges and immunities of citi- 
zens in the several States. " The members of Congress from the 
North held that free negroes were recognized as citizens in 
some of the old States and hence this clause in Missouri's 
Constitution was in conflict with the- Federal Constitution. 
Prior to the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, 
there was nothing in the Constitution of the United States 
declaring who were citizens or what qualification a person 
must have to be a citizen. By that amendment all persons 
born or naturalized in the United States were made citizens. 
But before Missouri's application for admission into the 
Union it had always been held that each State could say for 
itself who were its citizens, and who should not be. And 
Missouri now claimed she, too, had that right. 

61. An Unreasonable Contention. — This contention of 
those opposed to Missouri's admission led to an absurdity. 
If one State could declare a certain class of persons 'Jcitizens" 
and then the Constitution should come in and say all the 
other States should therefore acknowledge them as citizens, 
too, and should extend to these citizens all the privileges and 
immunities of citizens of each of these respective States, of 
course there would be no limit to citizenship. "Free ne- 
groes" would not alone be citizens. One State might de- 
clare a Chinaman or an Indian a citizen, and by this claim all 
the other States must acknowledge him a citizen, and must 
have nothing in their laws which would not allow him "all 



THE ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE UNION. 57 

the privileges and immunities", of any of their own citizens. 
This, of course, led to an absurdity. The object of the clause 
in the Missouri Constitution was to keep persons from set- 
tling within her borders who might disturb the peace and 
cause unrest among the slaves. Illinois had exactly the 
same law as late as 1846, and Congress at no time attempted 
to interfere with it. This clause, however, was the subject 
for long and bitter discussion in the House. The Senate saw 
the absurdity and dishonesty of such opposition and soon 
became in favor of admission. 

62. The Clay Compromise. — It was at this time that 
the great Henry Clay, of Kentucky, came to the rescue. He 
has been called the author of the Missouri Compromise. This 
is a mistake. Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, was the author of 
that measure, yet Mr. Clay gave it his powerful support. But 
he was the author of the second compromise. He induced 
the House to agree to leave the provision for the admission of 
the State to a committee of twenty-three members from the 
House — the then number of States — to act jointly with a 
committee from the Senate. This committee reported to the 
House a resolution admitting Missouri whenever her Legis- 
lature should pass a Solemn Public Act repealing the clause 
in reference to the exclusion of free negroes and mulattoes, 
and when this was done the President should proclaim her 
admitted. This resolution passed the Senate by a vote of 
twenty-eight to fourteen, and the House by the narrow vote 
of eighty-six to eighty-two. - 

63. The Solemn Public Act. — Then the Governor of 
Missouri called the Legislature together to pass the Solemn 
Public Act. It first spoke of the absurdity of Congress in 
demanding it, declared if any clause in the State Constitu- 
tion was in conflict with the Federal Constitution that clause 
was therefore void and had always been; but "to give to the 
world the most unequivocal proof of her desire to promote the 
peace and harmony of the Union," it there "solemnly and 



58 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

publicly declared and enacted" that no part "of the Consti- 
tution of this State shall ever be construed to authorize the 
passage of any law by which any citizen of either of the United 
States shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the 
privileges and immunities to which such citizens are entitled 
under the Constitution of the United States." A certified 
copy of this act was sent to President Monroe. He promptly 
issued a proclamation declaring the admission of the State 
complete. The precise date thereof was August 10, 1821. 
Thus ended for a time the mighty struggle between the 
North and the South which forty years later culminated in 
the Civil War. 

Questions on Chapter I. 

1. What was the effect of Missouri's appHcation to become a State? 

(52) 

2. What right did the people of Missouri claim for themselves? (52) 

3. What was the first objection to this? (53) 

4. What argument was used to support it? (53) 

5. In the name of what did the North protest against the further 

extension of slavery? (53) 

6. What was the second objection to Missouri's admission? (54) 

7. What was the relative political strength of the North and South 

at that time? (54) 

8. What is said of Alabama? (55) 

9. W^hy was the opposition waged around Missouri? (55) 

10. What was the Tallmadge resolution? (56) 

11. What was the third article of the contract of the Louisiana pur- 

chase? (56) 

12. How was it argued that this article settled the question? (56) 

13. What did John Scott contend? (57) 

14. What two replies were made to him? (57) 

15. What prepared the way for a settlement? How so? (58) 

16. What were the terms of the Missouri Compromise? (58) 

17. How did the people of Missouri accept the Compromise? (59) 

18. When was the first Constitution framed? (59) 

19. Name some of the members of the convention. (59) 

20. What objection was urged to the Constitution? (60) 

21. What did this contention lead to? (61) Why? (61) 

22. How did the Senate regard it? (61) 

23. What was the second compromise? (62) 



FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 



59 



24. What was the Solemn PubHc Act? (63) 

25. By what body was it enacted? (63) 

26. When was Missouri admitted to the Union? 



(63) 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 

64. The First Election. — The first election under the 
new Constitution was held on the fourth Monday of August, 
1820. Political parties did not divide the voters. On the 
contrary, the personal popularity and merits of the several 
candidates determined the result, for the most part. Alex- 
ander McNair and William Clark, both of St. Louis, were the 
candidates for Governor. The latter had been the Territorial 
Governor for seven years. He was now defeated by a 
majority of 4020 votes in a total vote of 9132. William H. 
Ashley of St. Louis was elected Lieutenant-Governor. The 
State Government in all its branches did not immediately 
go into effect. It was far into the year 1821 before either 
the Cir cuit or Supreme courts were in operation. 

65. First Governor. — Alexander McNair was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1774, and received a fair English education. 

His parents died about the time 
he became of age, and he and 
his brother agreed upon the di- 
vision of their estate in a novel 
manner — that whosoever should 
be the victor in a fair fight 
should be the owner of the 
homestead. Alexander received 
a severe whipping at the hands 
of his brother, to which he after- 
wards acknov/ledged he owed 
the honor of being Governor 
of Missouri. In 1804 he moved 
Alexander McNair. to St. Louis, and for a numbcr 




/ 



60 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

of years was United States commissary for that Army station. 
In the city tax Hst of 1811 he appears as taxed for one of 
the nineteen "carriages for pleasure" then owned in the city. 
During the War of 1812 he was colonel of Missouri militia in 
the United States service. He was elected Governor in 1820, 
and held office till 1824, and died in St. Louis in 1826. He 
was a man of great popularity and strict integrity. 

66. New Counties and David Barton. — The General 
Assembly, which is the name given the legislative branch of 
the State Government, was composed at its first session of 
fourteen Senators and forty-three Representatives. At that 
session, which met in St. Louis in September, 1820, acts were 
passed creating the counties of Boone, Callaway, Chariton, 
Cole, Gasconade, Lafayette, Perry, Ralls, Ray and Saline. 
Most of these were carved from the territory first embraced 
in Howard County. 

David Barton and Thomas Hart Benton were elected 
United States Senators. They were not allowed to take their^ 
seats in the Senate, however, until 1821, because the State 
was not admitted into the Union until August 10th of that 
year. Mr. Barton was a native of Tennessee and was a 
soldier in the War of 1812. He had served as judge of the 
circuit court a short time about 1816, but had no brilliant 
career as a jurist. He was a fluent orator and at the 
time of the admission of Missouri was the most popular man 
in the State. He was chairman of the convention that framed 
the State Constitution and was unanimously elected to the 
Senat-e in 1820 and re-elected in 1825. During his last term 
he became unpopular in the State because of his espousal of 
the cause of John Quincy Adams for the Presidency against 
General Jackson, who was a great favorite in Missouri. 
Accordingly, in 1833 he was defeated as a candidate for Con- 
gress, but afterwards served one term in the State Senate. 
He died near Boonville in 1837. 



FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 61 

67. Benton and Lucas. — Thomas H. Benton was elected 
United States Senator with Mr. Barton, but not without 
great opposition. Mr. Benton had been a resident of Ten- 
nessee, had there been a member of the Legislature, and 
attained to the rank of colonel as commander of a Tennessee 
regiment in the War of 1812. But his brother, Jesse Benton, 
and Amos Carroll had there fought a duel. Andrew Jackson 
had earnestly espoused the cause of Carroll, which led Thomas 
Benton to vigorously denounce Jackson. In return Jackson 
attempted to horsewhip Benton on the streets of Nashville, 
and was shot in- the arm by Jesse Benton. This made the 
Bentons very unpopular in Tennessee, and in 1813 Thomas 
Benton came to Missouri. In 1817 he had a very noted 
duel with Charles Lucas, at that time United States attorney 
for the district of Missouri, and a son of the first chief justice 
of the Territory. Lucas was about twenty-five years old 
and Benton was about forty. Lucas had challenged Benton 
and when the fight came off was wounded in the neck, but not 
killed. He expressed hirr.self as satisfied. Then Benton in a 
violent rage demanded of Lucas that they fight till one or the 
other was killed. This they did three weeks later, at a time 
when Lucas was still weak from a loss of blood from the wound 
received in the previous duel, and Lucas was killed. In the 
minds of many people this action of Mr. Benton was regarded 
as murder, and lost him many friends in the new State. He 
was opposed for the Senate by his adversary's father. Judge 
Lucas, and the balloting ran through several days without a 
choice. Finally Mr. Barton said he preferred Benton for his 
associate. He was accordingly elected, and served for thirty 
5^ears, lacking five months, a longer time than was ever served 
by any Senator from any State until within recent years. 

68. The First Congressman. — Missouri was then en- 
titled to only one Congressman. John Scott was elected. 
He had for some time been the Territorial delegate and was 
a man of ability. He was born in Virginia in 1782, graduated 



62 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

at Princeton College in 1805, and soon afterwards settled at 
Ste. Genevieve; was a delegate in Congress from the Ter- 
ritory of Missouri from 1817 to 1821 and then a Representa- 
tive in Congress till 1827, where he took high rank as a man 
of educated talent and bold integrity. When the contest 
came up in the House of Representatives for the election of a 
President he voted for John Quincy Adams, and was sup- 
ported in his action by Senator Barton, but opposed by 
Benton, who favored Jackson. As a consequence Scott was 
never again returned to Congress. Nor did he ever again 
seek a public office. 

69. The Supreme Court. — By the terms of the Con- 
stitution the judges of the Supreme and Circuit courts were 
to be appointed by the Governor, and the appointments con- 
firmed by the Senate. This law remained in force till 1851, 
when it was changed, and judges thereafter were elected just 
as other officers. The first members of the Supreme Court 
were Mathias McGirk of Montgomery County, John D. Cook 
of Cape Girardeau, and John Rice Jones of Pike County. 
They were all men of great probity and judicial learning, and 
were appointed without any regard to their politics. Mr. Mc- 
Girk remained a member of the court until 1841. Mr. Cook 
resigned within a year or two, and Judge Jones died in 1824. 
Both had been members of the Constitutional Convention. 
Judge Jones had also been very prominent in the Territorial 
days as a member and president of the Legislative Council. 
He was the first English-speaking lawyer west of the Mississippi 
River. George Tompkins was appointed in place of Mr. 
Jones, and served till 1845, twenty-one years, and then retired, 
having become sixty-five years old, beyond which age no 
person was then legally capable of being judge. 

70. The State Seal.— The Constitution of Missouri 
provided that the Secretary of State should procure a seal of 
the State with suitable emblems and devices, "which should not 
be subject to change." The Legislature of 1822 directed what 



FIRST YEARS AS A STATE. 



63 



the devices and emblems should be, and the present seal was 
fashioned and has been in use since. The following is a de- 
scription of it: On 
an inner circular 
shield, equally di- 
vided by a perpen- 
dicular line, is a 
red field on the 
right side (the 
reader's left) in 
which is the grizzly 
or white bear of 
Missouri. Above, 
separated by a 
wave line, is a white 
or silver crescent in 
an azure field. On 
the left, on a white 
field, are the arms of the United States. A band surrounds 
this circular shield, on which are the words, "United we stand, 
divided we fall." For the crest, over a yellow or golden helmet 
is a silver star, and above it is a constellation of twenty-three 
smaller stars — IMissouri being the twenty-fourth State to 
unite with the Union, the large star represents her and the 
other stars the rest of the Union. The supporters are two 
grizzly or white bears, standing on a scroll on which is in- 
scribed the motto of the State, "Salus populi suprema lex esto'' 
■ — let the welfare of the people be the supreme la.w. Under- 
neath the scroll are the numerals, MDCCCXX, which was 
the year of the adoption of the first Constitution. Around the 
entire circle are the words, ''The Great Seal of the State of Mis- 
souri." This seal is still kept in the office of the Secretary 
of State, and is stamped on all commissions of officers and on 
every contract to which the State becomes a party. 




64 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Questions on Chapter II. 

- 1. When was the first election held? (64) 

2. Who was the first Governor of the State? (64) 

3. What is said of Alexander McNair? (65) 

4. Of what was the first Legislature composed? (66) 

5. What counties were organized at this session? (66) 

6. Who were the first United States Senators from Missouri? (66) 

7. What is said of David Barton? (66) 

8. What is said of Thomas Benton? (67) 

9. What caused him great opposition in the State? (67) 

10. Who was the first Congressman? (68) 

11. Give a sketch of his Hfe? (68) 

12. How were the first Supreme and Circuit Court judges chosen? 

(69) 

13. Who were the first Supreme Court judges? (69) 

14. How long could a judge serve under the first Constitution? (69) 

15. Describe the State Seal. (70) 



CHAPTER III. 

BATES AND MILLER— 1824-32. 

71. The Second Governor.— The second Governor 
was Frederick Bates of St. Louis. He had been prominent 
in the Territorial days and was a member of the Constitu- 
tional Convention. His opponent was William H. Ashley 
who had been Lieutenant-Governor during McNair's admin- 
istration, and who, because of his daring intrepidity in ad- 
vancing the fur trade into the Rocky Mountains and in fight- 
ing the Indians, had invested his character with much ro- 
mance. But Bates was successful. Before Mr. Bates had 
served a year as Governor, the people were called upon to 
mourn his death. Benjamin Reeves of Howard County had 
been elected Lieutenant-Governor along with him, and the 
office of Governor would have fallen to him until a special 
election could have been held had he not resigned before the 
death of Governor Bates, to become one of the Government 
commissioners in the opening up of the noted road from 
Leavenworth to Santa Fe. Under the law, therefore, the 



BATES AND MILLER. 65 

office devolved on the President of the Senate pro tempore, 
who at that time was Abraham J. Williams of Columbia, and 
who at once began to exercise the duties of Governor. But 
he was not permitted to fill out the remainder of the Gover- 
nor's term. Under the Constitution of 1820 the Lieutenant- 
Governor (or if there was a vacancy in that office, the Presi- 
dent of the Senate pro tempore), on the death or resignation 
of the Governor, succeeded to the office, and held it only 
until a special election could be held to fill the vacancy, unless 
the balance of the tejm was less than eighteen months. Gov- 
ernor Williams proclaimed a special election to be held De- 
cember 8, 1825, which resulted in the election of John Miller 
of Howard County, who served out the remainder of the term. 
This was the only time in the history of the State that the 
President of the Senate pro tempore became Governor. 

72. Frederick Bates. — Frederick Bates was born in 
Goochland County, Virginia, in 1777. His education was be- 
gun in a private family school and ended in an academy. He 
studied law and at the age of twenty went to Detroit, a military 
post, and became its postmaster. In 1805 he was appointed 
by President Jefferson the first judge of the Territory of 
Michigan. In 1806 he moved to St. Louis, and from that time 
till Missouri became a State Mr. Bates was continually 
in some capacity a Territorial officer. He was Secretary of 
the Territory under Governors Lewis, Howard and Clark 
and during the interims between their administrations he 
was acting Governor, and also during their protracted 
absence from the Territory. In 1808 he compiled the 
"Laws of the Territory of Louisiana," the first book printed 
in St. Louis. In 1824 he was elected Governor to succeed 
McNair, without any solicitation or effort on his part. He 
died August 4, 1825. 

73. Duels. — Dueling had become a threatening evil 
among the prominent men of Missouri, and had greatly 

5 



66 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

shocked public sensibility. Many of the duels had been 
fought on an island in the Mississippi River below St. Louis, 
which was long afterward known as "Bloody Island." Dur- 
ing the administration of Governor Bates the Legislature 
undertook to break up this barbarous practice by making it 
odious. A bill passed both houses making the ''whipping 
post" the mode of punishment. But the Governor vetoed 
the bill because he could not approve of whipping as the 
penalty. In his veto message he said: "I am happy to 
record my utter detestation and abhorrence of dueling. My 
duty to my neighbors and myself would compel me, if pos- 
sible, to put down so barbarous and so impious a practice." 
After his veto the bill failed to pass. This is the first re- 
corded veto by a Governor of Missouri of which we have any 
knowledge-. 

74. The Visit of Lafayette.— The year 1825 was 
made memorable by the visit of Marquis de Lafayette, and 
his son, George Washington Lafayette, to St. Louis. This 
great man, after an absence of fifty years in his own beloved 
France, had on the invitation of the President of the United 
States made a visit to the country whose independence he 
had done so much to win. While his own land had been 
filled with tumult, war and poverty, he now found the thir- 
teen Colonies developed into a strong young nation of twenty- 
six States, happy, prosperous and free. He visited every 
State, and in St. Louis, whose inhabitants were largely French, 
he was received with g^reat favor. His entrance into the city 
was an ovation — not like the triumph of a military conqueror, 
but like that of a devoted father and patriarch returning to 
his own after a long absence in a patriotic trUvSt elsewhere. 
He came up the Mississippi, landed at the city on April 29, 
1825, where half of its population had assembled to meet him, 
all familiar with his name, and many of them of the same 
blood and familiar with his language. 



BATES AND MILLER. 67 

75. The Capital of Missouri was by the Constitu- 
tion of 1820 to be fixed on the Missouri River within forty 
miles of the mouth of the Osage; and at its first session there- 
after the General Assembly appointed a commission of five 
men to determine upon its location, and they chose Jefferson 
City, and the first session of the Legislature held there was 
in 1826. Prior thereto it had held its sessions at St. Charles. 
Congress had granted the State four sections of land to be 
used for the seat of government and for raising money to 
erect a suitable State house. Most of these were sold, and 
the proceeds were used to pay the costs of the new building. 
The Capitol, begun in 1823 and completed in 1826, burned 
down in 1837, and a new one, erected in 1838, was enlarged 
in 1887 to more than twice its original size. Just about 
nightfall on February 5, 1911, a bolt of lightning from an 
almost cloudless sky struck the Capitol dome, and again it 
burned down. The Constitution of 1875 declared that the 
General Assembly should have no power to remove the seat 
of government from Jefferson City. The Legislature in 
1895 submitted to the people an amendment to the Consti- 
tution providing for the removal of the capital to Sedalia, 
but by an overwhelming vote they rejected it. After the 
fire in 1911 there began a small agitation for the removal of 
the capital to St. Louis, but the General Assembly refused 
to submit to the people any such proposition, but did submit 
one for the Issuance and sale of $3,500,000 In bonds, to pro- 
vide means for building a new capitol In Jefferson City and 
the people overwhelmingly approved of that proposition. 
The law provided for a commission of four men to have 
charge of the plans and contract of construction, to be chosen 
by the five chief executive officers of the State, and they 
chose Edwin W. Stephens of Columbia, Joseph C. A. Hiller 
of Glencoe, Alfred A. Speer of Chamois and Theo. Lacaff 
of Nevada; and as this book goes to press the splendid new 
Capitol, close by the site of the one erected in 1838, is nearing 



68 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



completion. It is one of the finest in all the States, and by 
its quiet majesty bespeaks the solid worth of Missouri people. 

76. John Miller.— In 1828 General Miller was re- 
elected Governor, without opposition. The Adams party, 
which was now beginning to be called the Whig party, had 
no candidate. Daniel Dunklin, of Potosi, was elected Lieu- 
tenant-Governor. Miller's administration was most satis- 
factory to the people. He was born in Berkeley County, Vir- 
ginia, November 25, 1781, reared on a farm, and had the 
advantage of a common school education only. He evinced 
his predilection for military life when a boy by always "playing 
soldier," and his ability to lead by always being captain of 
his company. In the early part of the last century he located 
at Steubenville, Ohio, where he edited and published a news- 
paper. While thus engaged, he was appointed general 
of the State militia of Ohio, and 
held the rank of colonel in the 
United States Army throughout 
the War of 1812. He command- 
ed the Ninteenth United States 
Infantry and was assigned to 
duty under General William 
Henry Harrison. At the close of 
the war he was retained in the 
Standing Army and ordered to 
duty in Missouri. In 1817 he 
resigned his command and held 
the office of Register of Lands 
till 1825, when he was elected 
Governor. He was re-elected in 
1828, and served till 1832. Thus he was Governor for nearly 
seven years — a longer period than has ever been extended 
to any other Governor. He afterwards was a Representative 
in Congress for six years, and died March 18, 1846. 




John Miller. 



BATES AND MILLER. 69 

77. General Prosperity. — Governor Miller's adminis- 
tration was a time of general prosperity. The great body 
of the people were quietly toiling and preparing for the rising 
greatness of the State. All kinds of agricultural industry 
were followed with profit. At first most products sold at 
very low prices: wheat at fifty cents per bushel, potatoes at 
fifty cents, flour at one dollar and fifty cents per hundred and 
pork at the same price, cows at from eight to twelve dollars 
and working oxen at from thirty to forty dollars. But these 
low prices were largely due to the difficulty of reaching the 
world's markets. Toward the close of his term steamboats 
became more frequent on the rivers, and transportation 
cheaper and easier. Then prices became better. 

78. Prairie Fires. — The "prairie fires" at this time pre- 
sented a sight never to be seen again. The prairies and woods 
were filled with snakes and numerous wild animals. To de- 
stroy these and prevent vegetation from decaying, in the 
nights of spring and fall the ''prairie fires" were set, and made 
a beautiful scene, though sometimes attended with danger. 
It is fairly well established that the entire Ozark regions, now 
the timbered section of the State, prior to the beginning of 
the nineteenth century were denuded of trees by these fires, 
and were spoken of by explorers and travelers as undulating 
hills and broken prairies. 

79. The Election of 1832.— At the election in 1832 
there were three candidates for Governor. Daniel Dunklin 
of Washington County was the Democratic, Dr. John Bull of 
Howard was the anti-Jackson candidate, and Samuel C. Davis 
was an independent candidate. Dunklin was elected by 
a majority of about 1,100. The Lieutenant-Governor was 
Lilburn W. Boggs of Jackson County. Dr. Bull and William 
H. Ashley were the same year elected members of Congress, 
under a new apportionment which gave Missouri two Repre- 
sentatives instead of one. Governor Dunklin was inaugu- 
rated November 22, 1832. 



70 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Questions on Chapter- III. 

1. Who was the second Governor of the State? (71) 

2. Who was his opponent? (71) 

3. What profitable trade did he advance? (71) 

4. How long did Bates serve? (71) 

5. Who succeeded to his office on his death? (71) 

6. Why did not the Lieutenant-Governor do so? (71) 

7. Who was elected Governor in 1825? (71) 

8. Give a sketch of the life of Bates? (72) 

9. What is said of dueling? (73) 

10. What is thought to be the first Governor's veto? (73) 

11. Describe the visit of Lafayette to St. Louis. (74) 

12. What is said of the capital of Missouri? (75) 

13. When was an attempt made to move it? (75) 

14. How? (75) 

15. Who was elected Governor in 1828? (76) 

16. What was the Adams party now called? (76) 

17. What is said cf John Miller? (76) 

18. What is said of Miller's administration? (77) 

19. Why were prices low? (77) 

20. What is said of prairie fires? (78) 

21. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1832? (79) 

22. Who was elected? (79) 



DUNKLIN'S ADMINISTRATION. 



71 



CHAPTER IV. 



GOVERNOR DUNKLIN'S ADMINISTRATION— 1832-36. 

80. Governor Dunklin. — Daniel Dunklin, fourth Gov- 
ernor of Missouri, was born in South Carolina in 1790; 
moved to Kentucky in 1807, and to Potosi, Missouri, in 1810. 
He was sheriff of Washington County while Missouri was yet 
a Territory, and was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1820. He became Governor in November, 1832, and 
espoused the cause of public schools so ardently that he may 
be justly called the father of the common school system of 
Missouri. One month before his term as Governor expired 
he resigned to accept the office 
of Surveyor-General of Missouri, 
Illinois and Arkansas, which 
had been tendered him by 
President Jackson. In this 
capacity he established the 
boundary line between Missouri 
and Arkansas, and laid out 
many of the counties of these 
three States. He died in 1844, 
and is buried near Pevely, 
Jefferson County, on the serene 
bluffs overlooking the Missis- 
sippi — one of the most beauti- 
ful places on the majestic river. 

81. Cholera. — The Asiatic cholera, perhaps the most 
violent epidemic ever known in America, reached St. Louis 
in 1832. It had devastated cities in Europe; had crossed 
the seas and invaded New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. 
The people of St. Louis had taken warning and made vigorous 
efforts to prevent its coming by using proper food and care- 




Daniel Dunklin. 



72 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

fully cleaning the streets. But the deadly malady nestled 
in the wings of the wind and baffled all opposition. It first 
attacked a soldier at Jefferson Barracks, at the outskirts of 
the city. It then spread rapidly among the people, many of 
whom fled to other climates. It lasted six or seven weeks. 
During a greater part of this time there were from twenty to 
thirty deaths a day. When it finally disappeared there had 
fallen one in every twelve of the city's population. It also 
appeared the same year in Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, 
and other places, but the next year it prevailed with greater 
fatality in them. In 1849 it came again to St. Louis, with more 
direful results. In the midst of the consternation which 
seized upon the people a board of physicians pronounced 
against a vegetable diet and in favor of meat, and the city 
council passed a law prohibiting the use or sale of vegetables. 
The people, interpreting this to mean that meat was a remedy 
for the disease, engorged themselves with" it, eating even to 
gluttony. The price arose to enormous sums. But in a 
month or two the undue stimulating effects of the meat 
diet were seen, and the ordinance repealed. But still the 
number of deaths reached one hundred and sixty a day, 
and between April 30th and August 6th, 4,060 persons died 
from cholera alone. In 1850 and 1851 and again in 1867, it 
prevailed at various points along the Mississippi and Missouri, 
but rarely reached the towns a few miles from the river 
courses. In all these places the dreadful pestilence stalked 
the land leaving death and despair in its wake. The healthiest 
and stoutest men were often the first stricken. Persons of 
robust bodies would be attacked and in three or four hours 
waste away to skin and bones. So infectious was the dis- 
ease supposed to be that burials frequently took place at 
night by torch light, and often women and even parents 
assisted in burying their own dead. 

82. The Platte Purchase forms a unique niche in our 
American history. It was a procedure by which a large 



DUNKLIN'S ADMINISTRATION. 73 

tract of land was added to an already large State. It was 
brought about by the inhabitants of Clay and adjoining coun- 
ties, led by men then or afterwards prominent in the State, 
and all gentlemen of ability and honor. Among them were 
General Andrew S. Hughes, who was said to be scarcely 
second to the celebrated John Randolph in wit and sarcasm 
and was a lawyer of excellent parts; William T. Wood, after- 
wards a resident of Lexington and a well-known judge; A. 
W. Doniphan, the brave commander of "Doniphan's Expedi- 
tion" of the Mexican War; and David R. Atchison, after- 
wards United States Senator. With the assistance of these 
gentlemen, Senators Benton and Linn pushed through Con- 
gress a bill by which all the countr}^ now embraced in the 
counties of Atchison, Andrew, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway and 
Platte became a part of Missouri. On September 17, 1836, 
Captain William Clark, who had been superintendent of 
Indian affairs throughout Missouri since the time he was the 
Territorial Governor, formed a treaty with the Sac, Fox, and 
Iowa Indians, by which they ceded this territory to the 
United States. In return the Indians were given $7,500 and 
four hundred sections of land in northwestern Kansas, and 
the entire country, therefore, has been known as the Platte 
Purchase. It all lies between the Missouri River and a me- 
ridian line drawn through the mouth of the Kansas River, 
at Kansas City, and comprises one of the richest bodies of 
land to be found anywhere. In December, 1836, Congress 
passed a law opening the country to settlement, and the next 
year found it teeming with people from every State, and many 
came from Canada, on account of the Canadian rebellion. In 
a few years Platte County was next to St. Louis in population, 
and sent three members to the Legislature, and Buchanan 
sent two. This ascendency continued till the large emigra- 
tion to Kansas in 1856. 

83. The Election for Governor in 1836 took place in 
August, and was preceded by a warm campaign. Lilburn 



74 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

W. Boggs was the Democratic candidate, and William H. 
Ashley of St. Louis, the Whig candidate. Boggs was elected, 
and Franklin Cannon of Cape Girardeau was chosen Lieu- 
tenant-Governor. The vote at this election was sixty per 
cent greater than it had been four years before. In Novem- 
ber John Miller of Howard and Albert G. Harrison of Calla- 
way county were elected Representatives in Congress. 

Questions on Chapter IV. 

1. Who was the fourth Governor of Missouri? (80) 

2. Who was the father of the Public School system? (80) 

3. What further is said of Dunklin? (80) 

4. What is said of the Asiatic cholera? (81) 

5. When did it first come and what places did it visit? (81) 

6. When did it next come and what results attended it in St. Louis? 

(81) 

7. When and where did it come again? (81) 

8. How did it attack the people? (81) 

9. What is said of the Platte Purchase procedure? (82) 

10. Who were the principal men in the movement? (82) 

11. What counties did it add to Missouri? (82) 

12. Who conducted the negotiations with the Indians? (82) 

13. What were the terms of exchange? (82) 

14. What Indian tribes were concerned in the purchase? (82) 

15. What is said of the settlement of the country? (82) 

16. In what months were the elections of 1836 held? (83) 



CHAPTER V. 

GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 

84. Governor Boggs. — Lilburn W. Boggs was born at 
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1796. He served as a soldier in the 
War of 1812, and in 1816 came to Missouri, first settling at 
St. Louis, then at St. Charles, Franklin, and in Jackson 
County, being engaged most of the time in the fur trade. In 
1826 he was elected to the Legislature, and served in that body 
during several sessions. In 1832 he became Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, and on the resignation of Governor Dunklin assumed the 



GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 75 

duties of his office. He was elected Governor in his own right 
within a month, inaugurated November 23, 1836, and served 
four years. He was afterwards a leading member of the State 
Senate, and in 1846 moved to California, where he filled hon- 
orable public offices, and died in 1861. 

85. Mormon Troubles. — The founder of Mormonism 
was Joseph Smith, an uneducated and superstitious youth 
of New York, who regarded himself as the ''Revelator and 
Prophet" of a new faith, and asserted that he was, by divine 
appointment, to establish a kingdom as precursory to the 
millennial reign of Christ on Earth. He was born in Vermont 
in 1805, and moved with his parents to New York about 
1815. He was there known as a lazy boy, who claimed to 
have visions and to "hear heavenly voices." He asserted that 
in 1823 an angel Moroni (son of Mormon) appeared to him 
one night and revealed the place where the Bible of the 
Western Continent, which was an enlargement of the New 
Testament, could be found on a certain hill, and that four 
years later on the anniversary of that night he dug up on 
that hill a stone box, in which was a volume six inches thick, 
made of thin gold plates, seven by eight inches in size, and 
fastened together by three gold rings. The plates were cov- 
ered with small written characters, resembling Egyptian hiero- 
glyphics, which Smith could not read; but in the box was a 
pair of supernatural spectacles with diamond lenses, and by 
aid of these the mystic characters could be read. With 
Martin Harris as a scribe, and David Whitmer and Oliver 
Cowdery as witnesses, all stationed behind a curtain. Smith 
read from the plates and Harris wrote down; and thus the 
original Book of Mormon came into existence. It was printed 
at Palmyra, New York, about the year 1830, accompanied by 
a sworn statement of "The Testimony of the Three Witnesses" 
that an angel of God had shown them the golden plates of 
which the book was a translation. According to Smith the 
plates soon afterwards disappeared, having been taken away 



76 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

by the angel Moroni. The Book of Mormon declared Smith 
to be "God's prophet," and he was ever afterwards known by 
his followers as the "Prophet Joseph." The book has been 
the mythical source of Mormon faith, and strange as it may 
seem has been accepted by the faithful Mormon as a revela- 
tion from God of equal authority with the Bible. 

86. At Independence. — Smith made some converts in 
New York, but was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the courts. 
In 1831 he moved to Ohio, and the next year to Jackson 
County, Missouri, where he found the "Zion" of his proph- 
ecy at Independence, and named it the "New Jerusalem." 
The "Saints" owned all things in common, and entered much 
land, though the most of the titles were in the bishops. They 
established the "Lord's Storehouse" at the New Jerusalem, 
and started the Evening Star, the first newspaper published in 
that part of the State, in which weekly appeared "revelations" 
promising wonderful things to the faithful. All persons not 
Mormons were called "Gentiles." Curses were pronounced 
upon them. The Mormons constituted about one-third of 
the population of the county. In their newspaper they 
declared they were to possess the land, and their leaders pro- 
claimed the same thing. A fear was aroused in the Gentiles 
that the Mormons, so rapidly were their converts arriving, 
would soon be in the majority, would elect the judges and other 
officers, and would then take away their property and per- 
sofial rights. Their opposition became aggressive. They 
tarred and feathered two of their leaders and threw their 
printing press into the street. An encounter took place 
betv/een the Mormons and Gentiles in 1833, near the present 
Kansas City, in which the latter were defeated, and two 
Gentiles and one Mormon were killed. Then the Mormons 
determined to drive out the Gentiles from Independence, but 
in the struggles which followed the Gentiles were successful 
and compelled the Mormons to cross the river into Clay, 
Carroll and chiefly Caldwell County .~ 



GOVERNOR BOGOS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 77 

87. Far West.— In Caldwell County the Mormons 
began another town and called it "Far West," and Smith 
promised it would soon become one of the mighty cities of the 
world. Missionaries canvassed the East, and even Canada 
and England, for converts. They poured into the new town 
rapidly. Settlements soon extended into four or five coun- 
ties. In 1837 work was begun on a temple at Far West. It 
was to be the most magnificent in the world. But it was never 
to be completed. Many industrious and enterprising persons 
had been drawn there. Numerous thieves had also come. 
They believed it was safe for them to steal from the Gentiles, 
and wandered through the country appropriating whatever 
they saw and desired — especially after the opposition to the 
Mormons became active. Not all the Mormons were thieves 
— far from it — but the majority of the people were Mormons, 
and they inflicted no punishment upon the thieves; and as the 
thieves claimed also to be Mormons, the Gentiles did not 
discriminate, but directed their opposition to all alike. Bitter 
feeling against the Mormons broke out anew. The divine 
authority claimed for Smith by himself and his followers was 
scoffed and scorned. Their religious professions and prac- 
tices were derided. Smith talked about exterminating his 
enemies and acquiring possession of Missouri. Suspicions 
daily increased. Conditions became inflamed. Violence at 
first consisted of heated discussions and fist fights. Then 
there was an occasional murder or the burning of an isolated 
dwelling. On the day of the general election in August, 
1838, a fight between the Mormons and Gentiles occurred 
at Gallatin, the Mormons using heavy oak clubs, and a few 
persons were killed. After this occurrence hostility between 
the two classes rapidly spread. A state of general lawless- 
ness in these three or four counties was fast approaching. That 
condition called to the citizens in other parts of the State to 
take a hand. 



78 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

88. Outside Interference. — The next effort to drive 
out the Mormons began at DeWitt on the Missouri River 
in Carroll County. Here the Mormons had established a 
thriving settlement. It had a good wharf for boats and was 
the best port for Far West trade. Colonel George W. Hinkle 
was the principal man of the town. A committee of citizens, 
led by Rev. Sarchel Woods, notified him that at a large meet- 
ing in CarroUton it had been determined to drive the Mormons 
from Carroll County. Hinkle drew his sword and defiantly 
threatened death to all persons who would interfere with the 
Saints. "Put up your sword. Colonel," said Mr. Woods; "I 
am an old pioneer, have heard the Indians yell, the wolves 
howl and the owls hoot; and am not alarmed at such demon- 
strations." But Hinkle did not go, and toward the last days 
of September, 1838, four or five hundred troops, under Con- 
greve Jackson of Howard County, had bivouacked near the 
town. The Mormons were reinforced also, and the Gentiles 
were anxious for a fray. But Judge Earickson, also of 
Howard County, interfered in the interest of amicable settle- 
ment. The Mormons finally agreed to leave, to pay for alb 
the cattle stolen, and the Gentiles were to pay first cost on 
the lands. Men, women and children loaded their goods 
into wagons and started a long, sad train for Far West. 

89. Mormons Expelled. — After the Mormons were 
expelled from DeWitt troubles broke out afresh in Daviess 
County. Armed bands of Mormons traversed the county, 
terrifying the Gentiles. They burned a store, the post office 
and five or six dwellings in Gallatin, and robbed the post- 
master; they burned Mill Port; dwellings in different parts 
of the county were burned and their owners robbed ; probably 
a third of the Gentile inhabitants of the county abandoned 
their homes, and fled for safety to other counties. Then the 
Mormons made a fatal mistake. The Governor had sent 
small bands of militia into these counties in an attempt to 
restore order. A company of fifty militia, commanded by 



GOVERNOR BOOGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 79 

Captain Samuel Bogart, was encamped at a place called 
Buncombe, on Crooked River, twelve or more miles north 
of Richmond, near the Ray County border. The Mormons 
had threatened to invade that county, and Bogart was sta- 
tioned along its northern line to patrol and guard it. Among 
the Mormons was a cruel band, at the first called the "United 
Brothers of Gideon" and later "Danites," bound by a secret 
oath to "put down the Lord's enemies." On October 25th, 
1838, David Patten, called by the Mormons "Captain Fear 
Not," with a hundred or more Mormons, the most of them 
Danites, made an attack on Captain Bogart, and ten of the 
militia were killed. The antipathy to the Mormons now 
became general. Governor Boggs as soon as he knew of the 
attack on Captain Bogart called out almost the entire militia 
of the State to "put down the insurgents and enforce the laws." 
He placed General John B. Clark of Fayette in supreme 
command, and instructed him that "the Mormons must be 
treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven 
from the State if necessary for the public peace." The militia 
began to move quickly from dozens of points in northern and 
western Missouri. Within two or three days General Clark 
was on the march to Far West with a thousand men. But 
before he arrived General Samuel D. Lucas had started from 
Independence, and was joined on the way by General A. W. 
Doniphan of Clay and General H. G. Parks of Ray, the 
Mormons fleeing before them and concentrating their forces 
at Far West. General Lucas- with 2,500 men invested that 
town on the 30th. But there was no battle. The Mormons 
had become dispirited by the death of Patten, their leader 
in the assault on Captain Bogart. They had believed him 
protected by an angel and immune from death in battle with 
the Gentiles. Their Prophet had told the Danites that the 
Lord would send angels to fight for them. When they learned 
that Patten had been shot down in that mad assault they lost 
heart. Their leaders as soon as General Lucas had surrounded 



80 HISTORY OP MISSOURI. 

their town sent Colonel HInkle to inquire if there could not be 
some settlement of the difficulties without a resort to arms. 
They offered no resistance whatever, and quickly accepted 
the hard terms proposed by Lucas. They were to deliver 
up their arms, surrender their prominent leaders for trial, 
and all other Mormons should leave the State. General 
Clark arrived three days later, and the weather being inclem- 
ent reinstated in their homes such of the Mormons as had 
not left, and modified the terms requiring them to leave 
forthwith by extending the time to the first of the next April. 
He also sent General Robert Wilson of Chariton County 
on to Adam-on-diahmon, another stronghold of the Mor- 
mon, in Daviess County, near Grand River, who effected its 
surrender. 

Much distress followed the terms of surrender and con- 
sequent removal. Joseph Smith and ten of the principal men 
among the Mormons were lodged in jail charged with treason 
or murder. More than twenty others were required to give 
bond to appear in court to be tried for arson or robbery. 
All the other prisoners, amounting to about 600 men who had 
taken up arms, were paroled upon condition that they leave 
the State. They and the Mormons had looked to their leaders 
for guidance, and now those leaders were taken from them. 
They obeyed without resistance the requirement to leave. 
Many of them were poor. Like most early settlers in Mis- 
souri they had put most of their money into land. With this 
they were required to part, and did so for almost nothing. 
Farms were traded for a horse, or a wagon, or a yoke of oxen, 
or simply abandoned. Most of their number, about 4,000 at 
that time in and around Far West, went to Nauvoo, Illinois. 
Trustworthy writers have asserted that as many as 15,000 
went from Missouri to Nauvoo. The terms imposed upon 
them seem hard and extreme. But General Robert Wilson, 
who was a thoroughly honorable man, in his written report 
said that "the Mormons themselves appeared pleased with 



GOVERNOR BOGGS AND MORMON TROUBLES. 81 

the idea of getting away from their enemies and a justly 
insulted people" and "applied for and received permits to 
leave the county." Far West, whose site was about eight 
miles southwest of Hamilton, and near the present village 
of Kerr, has entirely disappeared as a town. 

90. Among the Leaders Surrendered were Joseph 
Smith, Hyrum Smith, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, Amasa 
Lyman, Lyman Gibbs, Caleb Baldwin, Alex. McRay and 
many others. Forty-one of them were indicted for murder. 
All of them and many others were indicted for arson, robbery, 
resisting legal process and other crimes. The indictments 
were made by the grand jury in the circuit courts of Caldwell, 
Daviess and Ray. By change of venue their cases were taken 
to Boone County for trial. On the way there Joseph Smith, 
Hyrum Smith, McRay and Baldwin escaped by bribing 
the sheriff and his deputies. Pratt made his escape by break- 
ing jail. Gibbs and the others were tried before Judge David 
Todd and acquitted. General Doniphan and James S. 
Rollins were their lawyers. Joseph Smith joined his followers 
in Illinois. There in 1843, it has been uniformly asserted by 
the Utah Mormons and often by impartial writers, he had 
another "revelation" authorizing and approving polygamy. 
This revelation was not officially published until 1852, and the 
Missouri Mormons have strenuously denied that he ever 
announced such a revelation. But publication that he had 
done so was at once made in Nauvoo, and it stirred up such 
troubles for Smith that he and his brother Hyrum were 
arrested and lodged in jail, and while in jail a mob put them 
to death in June, 1844, but not till the Prophet had fought 
with desperation for his life, killing one man and wounding 
two others. After his death, the "Council of Twelve Apostles" 
chose Brigham Young as his successor. The Mormons were 
soon driven from Illinois to Utah, where they have become 
numerous and powerful. In Utah polygamy was generally 



82 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

tolerated, and openly practiced by Brigham Young and other 
leaders among them. 

Some of the Mormons, however, among them Oliver 
Cowdery and David Whitmer, both of whom had attested 
the Book of Mormon as "a divine revelation and translation," 
withdrew from the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day 
Saints," as the Utah Mormons call their organization, and 
with others established the "Reorganized Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter Day Saints," which is the name of the church 
of almost all Mormons who now reside in Missouri. They 
withdrew after Brigham Young and the other leaders became 
polygamists. Some of them remained in Missouri at the 
time the great body of Mormons went to Nauvoo. In fact, 
Whitmer and Cowdery had been expelled from the Mormon 
church and compelled to leave Far West in June, 1838, before 
the Mormon War began, largely because they objected to the 
stealing of stock and burning of houses which preceded that 
war. The Reorganized Church holds to the Book of Mormon 
as a divine revelation and its members are styled Mormons; 
but they have never practiced any of the cruelties or immoral- 
ities of the Utah Mormons. On the contrary, during their 
entire abode in Missouri they have been industrious, peaceable 
and orderly, and have steadily grown in numbers and in- 
fluence. 

91. The Part Taken by Governor Boggs in driving 
out the Mormons determined some vengeful persons among 
them upon his assassination. After his term as Governor 
expired he again took up his residence at Independence, and 
to that place in 1841 came Peter Rockwell, a Mormon, 
who hired himself as a common laborer under a different name. 
After he had become acquainted he easily found an oppor- 
tunity for his desperate intention. Late one evening as Boggs 
was leaning with his back to an open window, Rockwell shot 
him in the head. The wound was a terrible one; three of 
the balls lodged in his head and neck ; another passed through 



ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 83 

and came out at the mouth. Nevertheless, he recovered. 
Rockwell was tried and acquitted. 

Questions on Chapter V. 

1. Who was the next Governor of Missouri? (84) 

2. What is said of him? (84) 

3. What is said of Joseph Smith and the origin of the Book of Mor- 

mon? (85) 

4. When did the Mormons first come to Missouri? (86) 

5. How were they received at Independence? (86) 

6. What is said of Far West? (87) 

7. What now became the conduct of some persons claiming to be 

Mormons? (87) 

8. Why were they not punished? (87) 

9. Describe the troubles at DeWitt. (88) 

10. For what purpose did the Governor order out militia? (89) 

11. Who was in command? (89) 

12. Whom did they first meet? (89) 

13. What of the next skirmish? (89) 

14. What did the Mormons now do? (89) 

15. What was done with their leaders? (90) 

16. What was Smith's next revelation? (90) 

17. What became of him? (90) 

18. Who was his successor? (90) 

19. And what became of the Mormons of Illinois? (90) 

20. What is said of another sect of Mormons that remained in Mis- 

souri? (90) 

21. Describe the attempt to assassinate Boggs. (91) 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 

92. Financial Troubles and State Banks.— At the 
time of the Presidential election of 1840, there was some dis- 
satisfaction in Missouri with the Democratic party, which 
had been in power in the Federal Government for many 
years, because of the widespread financial troubles of a few 
years before. These had grown out of the wild speculations 
in lands and general recklessness in trade which had seized 



84 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

upon the nation some years before, and these financial panics 
were the natural results of the stringency and reaction fol- 
lowing those reckless speculations. But the Whig party saw 
a good opportunity to turn them to fine political advantage 
and was not slow to do so. A few years before, the charter 
of the old United States Bank, which had been in existence, 
with the exception of a few years, for forty years, expired. 
The Whigs strongly favored its re-charter, but were defeated 
by the Democrats under the lead of President Andrew Jack- 
son. After the overthrow of the bank, he had the national 
funds deposited in State banks. In each State there was 
established one central bank, with branches at other com- 
mercial centers. In Missouri the principal bank Tvas in St. 
Louis, with a branch at Fayette, and later on other branch 
banks were established at other points, such as Palmyra, 
Plattsburg, Lexington and Springfield. This action on 
the part of Jackson preceded only about a year the storm 
which swept over the financial world in 1837, although the 
death blow to the United States Bank had been given in 
1832. The fate of that bank had little or nothing to do with 
the distress, yet they came close together and the Whig 
party made much out of the coincidence. But the people 
of Missouri had, from their organization as a State, profited 
by the lessons learned in the financial troubles of 1818, and 
had avoided in a great measure much of the speculation rife 
elsewhere. They had always believed in "hard money," 
or gold and silver, and hence never were afflicted with the 
"wild-cat" paper currency which proved so injurious to the 
prosperity of some States, except as they felt it in their outside 
trade. The Democratic party being then the special advo- 
cates of "hard money," the majority of them up to this time 
had voted with that party. 

93. The State Ticket and the Result.— The Whigs 
undertook to win them from their old faith, and the campaign 
of 1840 was the most energetic of any ever had in the State 



ADMINISTRATION OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 85 

prior to the Civil War, if not up to this time. They supple- 
mented their national ticket in Missouri by adding to it one 
of the most powerful stump speakers ever in the State, General 
John B, Clark of Howard County, as candidate for Gov- 
ernor. Their principal doctrines were opposition to Jackson's 
policy, and the liberal use of the State's and Government's 
money in public improvements within the State. But the 
Democrats were also active. They regarded President 
Jackson as the people's friend and the doctrines he and his 
followers so much emphasized as the true principles of civil 
government. In opposition to Clark they nominated Thomas 
Reynolds, also of Howard County, a man of solid worth, and 
in spite of the active efforts of the Whigs the Democrats again 
carried the State, as they had always done since the forma- 
tion of parties in the State, and as they have usually done since. 
Thomas Reynolds was elected Governor, and Meredith M. 
Marmaduke of Saline, Lieutenant-Governor. 

94. The Whigs. — The Whigs at this election for the 
first time assumed a distinct organization in Missouri. Be- 
fore that, some Whigs had been very prominent in politics, 
and had been elected to important offices, but they were 
chosen often on account of their personal popularity and 
worth, rather than because of their politics. But for the next 
twelve years the party made bold and aggressive campaigns 
at every election, although it at no time gained control of the 
State Government. Among its members were many of the 
ablest and best rhen Missouri has ever had. They were also 
its wealthiest, which fact contributed no little to their defeat 
at the polls. The Whigs were often styled the "aristocrats" 
of Missouri by their political enemies, and this did its share 
in preventing the party from gaining a strong hold on the 
popular heart. 

95. Muster Day. — Muster Day was a time of much 
interest to the people of Missouri up to about 1840. In 1825 
the Legislature had enacted an elaborate law for organizing 



86 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

the militia. By it all men over eighteen years old and under 
forty-five, except a few specially exempt, were enrolled as 
State soldiers. The purpose of the law was to prepare the 
State for Indian wars or any other emergency that might 
arise. On the first Saturday of April every year, the citizens 
of each township, or, if the population was sparse, of each 
county, came together to be organized into companies and 
drilled for soldiers. This was called ''Muster Day." Then 
in May all the companies in a county came together and were 
organized into battalions, drilled and paraded for several 
days. In October drills were had by regiments and brigades. 
All of these occasions were looked forward to by the people 
with a great deal of interest and expectation. The wealthy 
madq display of gorgeous uniforms and splendid steeds, and 
chivalric heroes were received with demonstration of popular 
favor. On Muster Day nearly all the people from the sur- 
rounding country witnessed the organization and drill of the 
soldiers, and as a result it became a time when debts were 
paid, loans made, and much trading done. No other day in 
all the year was so generally observed and none did so much 
to get the people acquainted with each other. It also did 
much towards cultivating a pride in the State and her insti- 
tutions. Offices in the militia, though almost entirely with- 
out emolument, were as eagerly sought after as any in the 
State. However, there were some persons exempt from this 
service. They were any civil officers, preachers, teachers, 
millers, and students in school. Ministers were at no time 
required to perform any kind of military service, nor were 
they permitted to hold any civil office till the new Constitu- 
tion was adopted in 18(j5. But under the military law min- 
isters could be chaplains, and to be chosen as such was an 
honorable distinction. 

96. Imprisonment for Debt. — The one act in Governor 
Reynolds' life for which he will be most remembered, and in 
which he most prided himself, was the repeal of all laws 



ADMINISTRATIO'N OF REYNOLDS AND MARMADUKE. 87 

which permitted imprisonment for debt. This was done 
by the Legislature at its session in 1842-43. Up to that time 
when one proved in court that another owed him a debt, how- 
ever small or large, he could have him imprisoned till it was 
paid. The laws in those times were unduly hard on the 
debtor. They allowed him but few things that a sheriff could 
not lay hold of and sell. If he had been unfortunate and 
lost his property, he could retain not over a hundred dollars* 
worth for his family, and besides the avaricious creditor could 
come with an armed ofhcer and take him away to jail, and 
thereby deprive his wife and children of the benefit of his 
toil. The worst part about such a law was that it was the 
cruel and avaricious man, the one without mercy or a danger of 
want, who oftenest made use of it. It also worked the greatest 
hardship on those who needed the State's protection most. 
This barbarous law, which was once in force in most of the 
early States, Governor Reynolds determined to have re- 
pealed. He wrote the act himself and by earnest and per- 
sistent endeavor pushed it through the Legislature. It was 
one of the shortest laws ever enacted, and simply read: "Im- 
prisonment for debt is hereby forever abolished." 

97. Thomas Reynolds. — Governor Reynolds, elected 
in 1840, was a man of excellent ability. He was born in Ken- 
tucky. He resided in Illinois for a few years, and was there 
Supreme Judge of the State. In 1828 he moved to Missouri, 
was successively a member of the General Assembly, Speaker 
of the House, Circuit Judge, and Governor. While yet hold- 
ing this last ofhce, on February 9, 1844, for the first time in 
his life, he asked a divine blessing at his breakfast table, then 
went to a room in the Executive Mansion, locked the door 
and shot himself. For several months he had been in poor 
health. It was thought this and domestic troubles had im- 
paired his sanity. He left a note in which he said "the abuse 
and slander of his enemies" had rendered his life a burden to 
himself and prayed God to "forgive them and teach them more 



88 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

charity." Lieutenant-Governor Marmaduke became the 
Governor and served till the twentieth of the next November, 
being a man of eminently respectable talents, and making a 
wise and safe officer. 

98. The Election of 1844.— The election of 1844 has 
some interest beyond ordinary elections. Congress, at a pre- 
vious session, had given instruction for the division of the 
State into Congressional districts. By the census of 1840, 
Missouri had, because of the great increase of her population, 
become entitled to five Representatives in Congress instead 
of two, as was the case from 1830 to 1840. Up to this time 
the State had never been divided into Congressional districts, 
nor was it now. The Legislature would not acknowledge 
the authority of Congress in the matter and refused to dis- 
trict the State. This action created some feeling in political 
affairs, and the Whigs, professing to believe the election of 
Representatives on a general ticket in this wise would be illegal, 
refused to nominate candidates, and let the election go by 
default. The Democrats, left free from the opposition of a 
common rival, disagreed among themselves. One faction, 
which wished for silver and gold money and also desired 
the return of Thomas H. Benton to the Senate, became 
known as "Hards," and nominated John C. Edwards of 
Cole County for Governor, and James Young of Lafayette for 
Lieutenant-Governor, and placed on the same ticket five can- 
didates for Congress. The ''Softs" desired a liberal issue of 
paper money and were opposed to the return of Benton 
to the Senate, his long dominant influence in the State having 
become distasteful to them. They did not nominate a candi- 
date for Governor, but supported Charles H. Allen, an Inde- 
pendent candidate, who was also supported by the Whigs. 
Edwards was elected by a majority of 5,600 votes, and was 
inaugurated November 20, 1844. At this election John S. 
Phelps and Sterling Price were elected to Congress — men 
destined to become very prominent in State affairs for the 
next thirty years. 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF EDWARDS AND KING. 89 

Questions on Chapter VI. 

1. What caused dissatisfaction with the Democratic party? (92) 

2. What had caused these troubles? (92) 

3. What is said about the establishment of State banks? (92) 

4. What did the Whigs claim this action caused? (92) 

5. What about "wild cat" money in Missouri? (92) 

6. What course did the Whigs pursue? (93) 

7. What is said of John B. Clark? (93) 

8. How did the Democrats regard Andrew Jackson? (93) 

9. Whom did they nominate for Governor? (93) 

10. Who were elected? (93) 

11. What is said of the Whigs in section 94? 

12. Describe the militia and Muster Day. (95) 

13. What is said of positions in the militia? (95.) 

14. What citizens could not then hold civil ofBce? (95) 

15. For what great act is Thomas Reynolds remembered? (96) 

16. What is said of such a law? (96) 

17. What were the exact w'ords of the repealing statute? (96) 

18. Who became Governor in February, 1844? (97) 

19. Discuss the election of 1844 and the issues? (98) 

20. What two noted men were elected to Congress? (98) 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF GOVERNORS EDWARDS AND 

KING. 

99. Governor Edwards. — John Cummings Edwards, 
the eighth Governor of Missouri, was born in Kentucky in 
1806, but was reared in Rutherford County, Tennessee, and 
received a classical education. He was licensed to practice 
law in Tennessee, and came to Missouri in 1828. In 1830 
he was appointed Secretary of State by Governor Miller, and 
held the office till 1837, and then was a member of the Legis- 
lature for one term, in the meantime giving special attention to 
his farm, of which he was very fond. In 1840 he was elected to 
Congress, and in 1844 he became Governor and served till the 
27th of December, 1848. The following May he left Missouri 
for California, where he died in 1888. 



90 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

100. Texas. — The annexation of Texas and the ac- 
quirement of Nev/ Mexico are a part of the history of Mis- 
souri. The United States once had a shadowy title to Texas. 
In 1819 it was traded to Spain for the Floridas. The poUcy 
of the nation, it,mattered not which party was in power, was 
from that time on to regain it. But from the time Spain ac- 
quired it there had been a constant stream of emigrants 
thither from Missouri. Hence the people of this State were 
closely connected with those of Texas by ties of blood. ''It 
is probably within the bounds to assert that between 1822 
and 1836 there were few prominent Missouri families that 
were not at some time represented in the life of Texas." A 
Missourian named Austin made a settlement there and gave 
his name to its present capital. In 1835 Texas won her inde- 
pendence from Mexico in a predatory war known as the Texas 
Rebellion, and was largely assisted by Missourians who could 
not ignore her cry for help, although all the assistance given 
was by private citizens, who gave their aid on their own re- 
sponsibility and not from any authority or consent of the 
State or Union. But soon after winning her independence 
Texas desired to become a State. This was at first stoutly 
opposed, but in 1844 her admission to the Union was made 
the principal issue in the Presidential campaign. Missouri's 
interest in the matter was yet strong. She was in favor of the 
admission of Texas, and so cast her vote against Henry Clay, 
the most popular candidate the opposition could bring for- 
ward, and always a favorite in Missouri. The nation as well 
declared for her admission, and the matter having been set- 
tled by the popular voice, Texas was admitted into the Union 
in 1845. Mexico had piior thereto warned the United States 
that such admission would cause her to declare war. Accord- 
ingly on April 24, 1846, the Mexican commander on the 
Texas border notified General Zachary Taylor that he con- 
sidered hostilities to have begun, and a few days afterwards 
Congress declared "war existed by the act of Mexico." 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF EDWARDS AND KING, 91 



101. Doniphan^s Expedition. — Many Missourians took 
part in the Mexican War. A few hundred of them joined 
the regular army under Taylor and Scott and shared in the 
honor of capturing the city of Mexico. But so far as the 
United States was concerned, this was by no means as im- 
portant as the subjugation and acquirement of New Mexico, 
which was done almost entirely by Missouri volunteers. In 
the middle of May, 1846, Governor Edwards called for volun- 
teers to join the "Army of the West." Thirteen hundred and 
fifty-eight men assembled at Fort Leavenworth from the coun- 
ties of Jackson, Lafayette, Saline, Clay, Franklin, Cole, How- 
ard and Callaway. A. W. Doniphan of Clay was elected 
colonel, and because of his prudent wisdom and energy in 
the campaign, it has usually been called "Doniphan's Ex- 
pedition." They were joined at Leavenworth by 300 regulars 
from the United States Army, with 16 pieces of artillery, and 
the whole force was placed under the command of General 
Kearney, also a citizen of Missouri. In June they set out 
over the plains for Santa Fe, 900 miles distant, and reached 
it in less than fifty days, having 

traveled through an uninhabited 
country and suffered much for 
water, yet with little loss In men 
or animals. 

102. Capture of Santa Fe. 
— Upon their approach the Mex- 
ican governor abandoned the 
place, and so the Americans took 
possession "without firing a gun 
or shedding a drop of blood." 
Santa Fe was then the center 
of the overland trade with Mis- 
souri and the distributing point 
for all trade with northern 
Mexico. It was the political 




Alexander A. Doniphan. 



92 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

capital of New Mexico and of a great part of the country 
north of the Rio Grande, the part which hitherto had resisted 
all attempts at conquest by Texas. The next day after its 
capture, General Kearney issued a proclamation by which he 
absolved the people of this wide territory from all allegiance to 
Mexican authority, and by "one stroke of the pen transformed 
them into citizens of the United States." With characteristic 
energy and aggressiveness, General Kearney caused a con- 
stitution and code of laws to be prepared by Doniphan and 
Willard P. Hall, both Missouri lawyers, which changed New 
Mexico in name from a province of Mexico into a Territory 
of the United States. He appointed Charles Bent Governor 
and Francis P. Blair Attorney-General. He then set out for 
the Pacific coast to bring California under like subjugation, 
leaving Colonel Doniphan in command. The day after his 
departure Colonel Sterling Price arrived at Santa Fe. Price 
had resigned his seat in Congress and taken the lead of a large 
force of men and marched to join the Army of the West, 
one company having been collected from each of the counties of 
Boone, Benton, Carroll, Chariton, Linn, Livingston, Monroe, 
Randolph, Ste. Genevieve and St. Louis. 

103. Battle of Bracito. — Leaving Price in charge of 
the troops at Santa Fe, and having in a short time put down 
a considerable uprising of the Navajo (pron. Nav-a-ho) In- 
dians, who had long been in hostilities with the people of 
New Mexico, Doniphan started to Chihuahua (She-waw- 
waw), 900 miles distant, to join General Wool. A sandy 
desert ninety miies wide, without wood or water, had to be 
crossed. In three days this was done and the army had run- 
ning water. They arrived on Christmas day at a little place 
called Bracito (Bra-se-to). Here they halted and began to 
collect feed for their horses and water and fuel. Suddenly a 
superior force of Mexicans darted upon them in full fire. The 
Missourians quickly formed on foot, held their fire till the 
Mexicans came within easy range of their guns and after a 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF EDWARDS AND KING. 93 

half hour's fighting drove them from the field, "leaving 63 
dead and 150 wounded." 

104. Capture of Chihuahua. — Two days later Doni- 
phan reached El Paso and learned Wool had not taken 
Chihuahua nor moved toward it. After waiting till the 
eighth of February for the arrival of some artillery from 
Santa Fe under Captain Weightman, also a Missourian, he 
set out again. In three weeks he was within fifteen miles of 
Chihuahua, 225 miles from El Paso, with 924 effective men 
and a caravan of 300 traders' wagons which had followed him 
all the way for protection and trade with the Mexicans. 
Here Doniphan learned "the enemy was strongly posted on 
high ground, fortified by intrenchments and well supplied 
with artillery," consisting of "about 4,000 . men, of whom 
1,500 were rancheros badly armed with lassos, lances and 
corn knives." Despite their superior numbers he determined 
to attack them. He advanced with seven dismounted com- 
panies and three mounted. A charge of these with the aid 
of two twelve-pound cannon decided the battle. The Mex- 
icans fled. Three hundred of them were killed, three hun- 
dred wounded and forty taken prisoners. The Missourians' 
loss was one killed and eleven wounded. The Missourians 
now started for the mouth of the Rio Grande, which they 
reached the ninth of June, 1847, and the next day embarked 
for New Orleans and for home. 

105. A Pleasing Incident. — After leaving Chihuahua 
only one incident need be mentioned. The Mexican people 
of Parras had shown great kindness to the sick of Wool's 
army. After he kft they had been plundered and threatened 
by a marauding band of Indians. Although Mexicans, they 
appealed to Doniphan for help, who detached Captain Reid 
and thirty-five men for the purpose. They severely punished 
the Indians and recaptured and returned to their parents 
eighteen Mexican boys and girls. This shows how willing 
these Missouri boys were to do an act of humanity to even 
an enemy in distress. 



94 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

106. Results of the Expedition. — This was the end of 
"Doniphan's Expedition." He had traveled 3,000 miles 
from Fort Leavenworth to the mouth of the Rio Grande in 
twelve months, with a loss all told of less than fifty men, and 
had prepared the way for the acquirement by the United 
States of New Mexico and much of Arizona and California, 
a tract all told much larger than Missouri. 

107. Price Around Santa Fe. — ^We must return to 
Santa Fe to note what had been going on there. There was 
a "deadly hostility" toward the Americans; an intrigue was 
formed, and in an uprising of Mexicans on the nineteenth of 
January, 1847, Governor Bent had been killed while on a visit 
to his family at Taos, seventy miles from Santa Fe. Colonel 
Price set out at once with 350 men and met the Mexicans at 
Canada, New Mexico. After a short skirmish the Mexicans 
were driven from their position. They left behind thirty-six 
dead on the field. Price's loss was two killed and seven 
wounded. Price followed on. He was joined by Captain 
Burgwin with one company, which swelled his number to 
four hundred and eighty. The enemy had taken refuge in a 
pueblo near San Fernando de Taos. This place was inclosed 
with strong walls and pickets. In it were two pyramid- 
shaped buildings seven or eight stories high, and built of 
sun-dried brick. Their walls were thick and pierced for rifles. 
Here the Mexicans successfully defended themselves for two 
days. Price's cannon could not make a breach in the stub- 
born walls of these buildings. He, therefore, ordered that they 
be stormed on all sides at once. The soldiers cut their way 
through the walls with axes, and then brought up their six- 
pound cannon, by which the "holes were widened into a 
practicable breach." The buildings were carried without 
further resistance and the siege was ended, with 150 Mexi- 
cans killed out of six or seven hundred, and seven of the 
Missourians killed and forty-five wounded, many of whom 
died. Fifteen of the prisoners were hanged for treason. 



ADMINISTRATIONS C? EDWARDS AND KING. 95 

108. New Mexico Won. — Thus ended the revolt. But 
It began again in a few months. It had all the time been 
carried on by small bands of marauders, red and w^hite, who 
robbed passing trading w^agons. Soon came the report that 
a large hostile force was approaching from the south. Price 
called for additional troops. He w^as soon at the head of 
3,000, nearly all of whom were from Missouri. With this 
number he found no difficulty in maintaining order and the 
position he had won. The people of New Mexico in a short 
time submitted to the situation, and the treaty of 1848 end- 
ing the Mexican War gave sanction to what had been done 
by Kearney, Doniphan, and Price, and acknowledged that 
New Mexico had for some time been territory of the United 
States. 

109. Austin A. King.— In 1848 Austin A. King, of Ray 
County, was put forward by the Democrats for Governor, 
and James S. Rollins, of Boone, by the Whigs. The Demo- 
crats had steadily gained in numbers during the past four 
years, and although Rollins was one of the most popular and 
gifted men in the State, King was elected by 15,000 majority 
out of a total vote of 83,000. Thomas L. Price, a Benton 
Democrat of Cole County, w^as elected Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor. King was born in Tennessee in 1801, a son of an old 
Revolutionary family. He received a good education, be- 
came a learned lawyer, and came to Missouri, first settling in 
Boone County, and served one term in the Legislature from 
there. In 1837 he moved to Ray County and was appointed 
circuit judge, and served in that capacity till elected Gover- 
nor. He was elected to Congress in 1862, and died in 1870. 

110. Fire in St. Louis. — A destructive fire occurred in 
May, 1849, among the boats at St. Louis. The steamer 
White Cloud took fire. Twenty-three other boats were soon 
in flames. The line of conflagration was a mile long. The 
fire spread to the city and whole blocks were burnt. All the 
buildings on Front Street, from Locust to Market, were 



96 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

swept away. Three million dollars was the value of the prop- 
erty destroyed. 

111. The Iowa Line. — In 1849 the Supreme Court of 
the United States settled the long and sore dispute between 
Iowa and Missouri as to which owned a strip of land twenty 
miles wide lying between the undisputed territory of each. 
The Missouri Constitution, which had been accepted by 
Congress in 1821, said that the northern boundry line should 
be the "parallel that passes through the rapids of the river 
Des Moines, making the said line correspond with the 
Indian boundary line." Missouri claimed the northern 
border should be a parallel of latitude which passed through 
the rapids of the river Des Moines, and Iowa claimed it should 
be a parallel which passed through the Des Moines rapids in 
the Mississippi twenty miles further south. From 1837 the 
inhabitants of this strip had voted at Missouri elections. But 
in 1845 a Missouri sheriff, acting under the order of a Mis- 
souri court, had arrested some criminals on this strip, and was 
himself arrested and convicted by an Iowa Territorial court 
on the ground that he was exercising authority on Iowa ter- 
ritory. The contention at once took a serious face, and was 
made the subject of many fiery speeches in the campaigns 
for several years. Unfriendly and revengeful feelings began 
to grow between the people of Missouri and Iowa. The mat- 
ter was quietly and peaceably settled, however, by the United 
States Supreme Court, and thus the importance of having 
such a body to settle disputes between the States was shown. 

112. The Settlement. — The Indian border line was 
adopted as the proper dividing line between the two States. 
It ran almost in the middle of the twenty-mile strip. It had 
been established in 1816, by John Sullivan, as the northern 
boundary of Missouri. Sullivan was a United States sur- 
veyor, appointed for the purpose of establishing this line. 
The mistake made in running it was one cause of the trouble, 
and that mistake has never been corrected and still remains. 



ADMINISTRATIONS OF EDWARDS AND KING. 97 

He began on a meridian one hundred miles north of Kansas 
City, and, instead of running due east, varied to the north, 
and at the river Des Moines had varied four miles in that 
direction. But the United States had by no less than sixteen 
treaties with the Indians recognized the line he ran as the 
border of Missouri. Missouri had so regarded it. up to 1837, 
and the court now held that it should forever be the dividing 
line between the two States. By this decision Missouri lost 
a strip of land ten miles wide on the east and fourteen on the 
west; and Iowa lost the rest of the twenty-mile strip. This 
will explain why the border line between Missouri and Iowa 
does not run due east and west. 

Questions on Chapter VII. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of John C. Edwards. (99) 

2. How did the United States acquire the Floridas? (100) 

3. What part did Missourians take in settling Texas? (100) 

4. What is said of the Texas Rebellion? (100) 

5. And the efforts to make Texas a State? (100) 

6. How did the war begin? (100) 

7. What part did Missourians take in the Mexican War? (100) 

8. Describe Doniphan's expedition. (101) 

9. Describe the capture of Santa Fe. (102) 

10. What else did Kearney do? (102) 

11. Who now came on the scene? (102) 

12. What did Doniphan do? (103) 

13. Describe the battle of Bracito. (103) 

14. Describe the capture of Chihuahua. (104) 

15. What pleasing incident is mentioned? (105) 

16. What were some of the results of the expedition? (106) 

17. What had been going on at Santa Fe? (107) 

18. Describe the capture of San Fernando de Taos. (107) 

19. How was New Mexico finally won? (108) 

20. What is said of Austin A. King? (109) 

21. What destructive fire is mentioned? (110) 

22. What is said of the contentions over the Iowa line? (Ill) 

23. How was the issue settled? (Ill) 

24. What line was fixed upon? (112) 

25. What did Missouri gain and lose by this decision? (112) 



98 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 

113. Contentions Over Slavery. — The slavery ques- 
tion again stirred the State. It grew out of the acquisition, 
by the nation, of California and New Mexico. All of the 
last and part of the first lay south of parallel thirty-six de- 
grees and thirty minutes, agreed upon by Congress in the 
Missouri Compromise of 1820, as the line north of which 
slavery was not to exist. But African slavery had never 
existed in New Mexico. When, therefore, it became territory 
of the United States the North contended that slavery must 
not be introduced there. It was the desire of the South that it 
should. A large portion of the people of Missouri held that 
the proper way to settle the matter was for Congress not to 
interfere at all, but let the inhabitants of the Territory de- 
termine for themselves whether or not slavery should exisc 
there. By way of giving exprcvssion to this view a series of 
propositions known as the "Jackson Resolutions" were passed 
by the Legislature in January, 1849. They were so called 
because Claiborne F. Jackson of Howard County, afterwards 
Governor of the State, was chairman of the committee which 
reported them to the Senate, though as originally introduced 
they were written by Judge William B. Napton, a member of 
the Supreme Court from the county of Saline. After they 
reached the Senate committee they were recast by George W. 
Hough, a citizen of Jefferson City, "distinguished for soundness 
of judgment, accuracy of information and the strength of his 
convictions," and as written by him were accepted by the 
committee and adopted by both houses of the General 
Assembly. 

114. The Jackson Resolutions. — The Jackson Reso- 
lutions were passed by a vote of about twenty-four to seven 



BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 99 

in the Senate and sixty to twenty-two in the House, the 
Democrats generally voting for them and the Whigs against. 
The resolutions were six in number. Only the salient points 
of three or four of them need be here given. The first con- 
tended that the Constitution gave Congress no power to 
legislate on the subject of slavery; the fourth, that the right 
to prohibit slavery in any territory belongs exclusively to the 
people thereof; the fifth, that if Congress passed any act in 
conflict with these principles, Missouri will co-operate with 
"the slave-holding States for our mutual protection against 
the encroachments of Northern fanaticism." The sixth in- 
structed Messrs. Benton and Atchison, Missouri's United 
States Senators, to act in conformity with these resolutions. 
Atchison did so, but Benton refused, and appealed to the 
people for indorsement. He claimed slavery was an "in- 
curable evil" and therefore it ought not to be extended. 

115. The Opposite View. — The claim was admitted 
by many of the men who voted for the resolutions, but they 
yet held that the people of New Mexico and California ought 
to determine for themselves whether slavery should exist in 
their midst; that it was not a question whether slavery was 
right or wrong, but of non-interference by Congress. They 
said the people of the slave-holding States had a right, under 
the Constitution, which guaranteed freedom of commerce 
among the States, to go into any of the Territories they had 
helped to acquire, taking their slaves with them if they so 
desired, upon the same footing as that upon which the people 
of the North were permitted to move into the same Territory 
without slaves. It was by no means certain that all the Terri- 
tories would desire to become slave States. Some would not. 
Mr. Benton had always been quietly opposed to slavery, but 
he could have accepted this view of non-interference without 
surrendering his convictions in regard to it. It was afterwards, 
in 1857, accepted by the Supreme Court of the United States as 
a reasonable view of the rights of a State under the Constitution. 



100 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



116. Benton's Position. — But Mr. Benton was not a 
man of compromises. He welcomed a fight, and gloried in 
the prospect of overcoming his enemies. He was possessed 
with superb courage, physical and moral, and an imperious 

will. He ignored and brushed 
aside the view^s of the supporters 
• of the Jackson Resolutions. He 
had no conciliation to make. 
He had always been ardently de- 
voted to the Union. In this ardor 
and his own imperious domina- 
tion, he mistook the views and 
purposes of those of his own 
party who differed with him. 
They were as much devoted to 
the Union as he was. He had 
been a devoted follower of An- 
drew Jackson, and gave great 
support to that man of iron in 
his endeavors to humiliate, break 
down, and punish John C. Calhoun, against whom Jackson 
had a deep personal grievance. Benton could see nothing in 
the Jackson Resolutions but a reiteration of Calhoun's nul- 
lification doctrines. He thought they meant disunion and 
secession. Perhaps he was honest in this view. His ardor 
for the Union and his dislike for Calhoun and his resent- 
ment of opposition to himself (which was in fact largely due 
to his egotism and his overbearing course) perhaps led him 
to enlarge their import and grounded him in his belief. Yet 
the friends of the Resolutions did not so regard them. Many 
of those who strongly supported them were a few years later 
loyal supporters of the Union cause. Benton had given the 
Resolutions a meaning which few or none of those voting for 
them believed was the proper inference. He appealed to the 
people to stand to his interpretation. He made a tremen- 




Thomas H. Benton. 



BENTON AND THE JACKSON RESOLUTIONS. 101 

dous struggle to be sustained, and spoke with incisive in- 
vective against his opponents in every part of the State. 
Strong men of the Democratic party opposed him. The 
Whigs took no part in the contest. 

117. Benton's Downfall. — When the General Assem- 
bly met Benton was defeated, the opposing Democrats voting 
with the Whigs and thus electing Henry S. Geyer of St. 
Louis to the United States Senate. Mr. Benton had been 
the political leader and autocrat of the State for thirty years. 
But from this time on his power was broken. He represented 
St. Louis one term in Congress, from 1853-55, but was then 
defeated by Luther M. Kennett, a Know Nothing. In 1856 
he was a feeble candidate for Governor on his own personal 
strength as an independent, but was defeated. Had he not 
tried to make the Jackson Resolutions mean something 
which the great body of the people did not intend them to 
mean, he might have held his seat in the Senate till his death. 
After his defeat the Democratic party committed itself to 
non-interference by Congress in questions of slavery in new 
Territories, and there was political peace for a few years till 
the breaking out of fresh trouble in Kansas. 

Questions on Chapter VIII. 

1. What troublesome question again arose when Cahfornia and New 

Mexico had been acquired? (113) 

2. What was the attitude of the North? (113) 

3. What was Missouri's contention? (113) 

4. In what way did they give expression to their views? (113) 

5. Name the salient points of the Jackson Resolutions. (114) 

6. How did Benton and Atchison regard them? (114) 

7. What argument was made for the Resolutions? (115) 

8. What was Benton's attitude? (116) 

9. What is said of the struggle? (116) 

10. What was the result? (117) 

11. What attitude did the Democratic party now assume? (1 17) 



102 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

CHAPTER IX. 

FROM 1852 TO 1860. 

118. The Election.— At the election of 1852 Sterling 
Price, of Chariton County, was put forward by the Demo- 
cratic party for Governor. The Whigs nominated James 
Winston, of Benton County, v/ho was a grandson of the great 
Patrick Henry, and a man of many marked characteristics. 
Price was elected by a majority of nearly 14,000 votes. Wilson 
Brown, of Cape Girardeau, was elected Lieutenant-Governor. 
The new Governor was inaugurated the first Tuesday in 
January, 1853, and the Legislature for many weeks was stirred 
by animated discussions of the famous Jackson Resolutions 
which had been passed at a previous session. 

119. Sterling Price. — Sterling Price was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1809, educated at Hampden-Sidney College, and 
came to Missouri with his father in 1831, first settling at 
Fayette, and two years later at Keytesville, in Chariton 
County, where he engaged in merchandising for two years, 
and then settled on a large farm eight miles south of that 
town and engaged in farming till 1861. In 1840 he was 
elected to the Legislature and was chosen Speaker, and in 
1842 was re-elected to both positions. In 1844 he was elected 
to Congress. When the Mexican War broke out he resigned 
and was commissioned by President Polk to raise and com- 
mand a regiment, and before the war closed rose to the rank 
of Brigadier-General. In 1852 he was elected Governor as 
a Democrat, and made the State a faithful and wise chief 
magistrate. During his term he urged the Legislature to 
pass a law increasing the salary of the Governor, for the 
benefit of his successor. The Legislature provided for the 
increase to begin at once; but as the Constitution said the 
Governor's salary should not be increased or decreased while 



FROM 1852 TO 1860. 



103 




General Sterling Price. 



he was in office, he refused to 
accept the Increase. In 1860 
he was elected to the convention 
which declared Missouri would 
not secede from the Union, and 
was made its chairman. After 
the capture of Camp Jackson 
by Lyon's troops, he ac- 
cepted from Governor Jackson 
the appointment of Major- 
General of the State troops, 
and in May, 1862, joined the 
Confederacy and fought for it 
till it was vanquished. The 
brilliant qualities which he ex- 
hibited in so many ways during 
the war so endeared him to the people of the South that, 
with the exception of Lee and Jackson, no man among all 
their cherished heroes is remembered with more ardent and 
sincere affection. After the war he returned to St. Louis and 
engaged in the business of a commission merchant, and died 
there in 1867. 

120. Internal Improvements. — In the meantime the 
State had, for the first time since its organization, committed 
itself to a liberal policy of internal improvements. As early 
as 1836 charters had been granted to private companies to 
construct better wagon roads. Commercial centers had 
sprung up far from the navigable rivers. Freighting to 
them had been done almost exclusively by ox-wagons. Plank 
or macadam roads were now constructed. They were toll 
roads, for the most part. They gradually called into use 
wagons and other vehicles drawn by horses. No State aid 
had been given to any of these improvements. But in 1849 
the General Assembly — the same one which passed the Jack- 
son Resolutions — found the State out of debt and her revenue 



104 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

largely increasing, and a popular demand for State aid to 
railroads. In February the construction of the Missouri 
Pacific Railway from St. Louis to the western border of the 
State was authorized. The survey was soon made, and con- 
struction began in July, 1850. Other railroads were then 
rapidly projected. 

121. The Doors Open. — The doors of the public treas- 
ury had been opened to the Missouri Pacific. Other roads 
claimed an equal right to favoritism. There was no stopping 
place now. In quick succession aid was given to the St. 
Louis & San Francisco (the "Frisco"), the Iron Mountain, 
the Wabash, the Hannibal & St. Joseph, and other railroads. 
In eight years these roads received from the State its bonds 
to the amount of twenty-three million dollars, which they 
were allowed to sell for cash, but the interest of which the 
roads agreed to pay. In this most of them failed, and hence 
the State had to pay the interest, and later the bonds them- 
selves. This was the foundation of the great debt the State 
had to pay in after years. Besides this immense aid given by 
the State, the United States Government gave these roads 
about 1,800,000 acres of land. 

122. Railroad Construction. — The entire length of all 
railroads in the United States in 1850 was about 9000 miles. 
Missouri alone now has almost that amount of mileage. 
No one can calculate the effect of these railroads in develop- 
ing the resources of the State, in changing the pursuits of 
the people, in multiplying their powers for producing things, 
in drawing them closer to the rest of the country and to the 
whole world, and in unifying them into a homogeneous- 
whole. The first railroad of any considerable extent in the 
State was the Missouri Pacific. It was completed between 
St. Louis and Jefferson City by November 1, 1855. Eighty- 
five miles of the Iron Mountain had been built from St. Louis 
to Pilot Knob by 1858. In the same year the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph was completed between the two cities for which it 



FROM 1852 TO 1860. 105 

was named. The Frisco was constructed from St. Louis as 
far as Rolla by 186.1. The Wabash reached Warren ton by 
1855, Mexico in 1858, and in the next ten years was extended 
to Kansas City. These were the first railroads built, but 
within the next twenty years the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, 
the Chicago and Alton, and later other great lines were built, 
and the building of branches or extensions to these main 
lines and of other trunk roads still goes on. 

123. Some Interesting Matters. — Friction matches, 
such as are now used in every household, did not come into 
use until about 1845. Prior to that time the people "cov- 
ered" the fire in their stoves or fireplaces, and if it failed to 
"keep" they went to their neighbors to "borrow some fire," 
or started it anew by striking a small flint rock against a piece 
of steel and permitting the spark to communicate to punk, 
which was a fungus growth of easily inflammable tinder 
gathered from certain trees and kept dry for the purpose. 

Tomatoes began to be generally used as food about 1855. 
A very few persons had eaten them prior to that, but by most 
persons they were regarded as ornaments and called "love 
apples," and were not considered fit to eat. 

Steel pens, such as are now in general use, began to be 
used about 1847. Prior to that goose quills or gold pens were 
used. A few sewing machines found their way into the State 
about the same time. 

124. The Election of Polk. — At the election in 1856 
the Democratic candidate for Governor was Trusten Polk of 
St. Louis. Robert C. Ewing was the American or Know 
Nothing candidate and Thomas H. Benton was an inde- 
pendent candidate. Polk was elected. He received 47,000 
votes, Ewing 40,500, and Benton 27,600. The election of 
United States Senator enlisted more than ordinary interest. 
Two years before the Legislature had balloted for days, trying 
to elect a successor to David R. Atchison. It had failed to do 
so and for two years Missouri had only one Senator, Henry 



10(3 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 




Trust en Polk. 



S. Geyer. But in 1857 James 
S. Green was elected to serve till 
1861, and Trusten Polk to serve 
till 1863. Polk within a few 
months resigned as Governor, 
and Hancock Jackson, the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, served till the 
special election in August, when 
Robert M. Stewart was chosen 
over James S. Rollins. 

125. Trusten Polk.— 

Trusten Polk was born in Dela- 
ware in 1811, graduated at Yale 
College in 1831, and came to 
Missouri in 1835, settling in 
St. Louis, where he took the 
highest rank as a lawyer and citizen. He was a man of the 
cleanest habits, of great candor and sincerity. In 1843 he was 
City Counselor of St. Louis and in 1856 was elected Governor, 
and within a few months to the United States Senate. He 
made a useful Senator, being very attentive to the interests 
of his constituents. Early in the war he was expelled from 
the Senate by the Republican members on a charge of dis- 
loyalty. His public services after that were given to his church 
and to upbuilding the educational interests of the State. 
He died in St. Louis in 1876. 

126. Robert Stewart. — Robert Morris Stewart was born 
in New York in 1815, and received a good education. He 
taught school when he was seventeen and until he was 
twenty, moved to Kentucky, studied law, was admitted to 
the bar at Louisville, came to Missouri in 1839, in a few years 
settled in St. Joseph and practiced law. From 1846 to 1857 
he was a member of the State Senate. In 1857, when Gov- 
ernor Polk resigned, he was elected as a Democrat and made 
an excellent officer. When the question of secession was sub- 



FROM 1852 TO 1860. 107 

mitted to the people, he was elected a delegate to the conven- 
tion which was to finally decide the matter, as a Conditional 
Union man, but soon ardently and unconditionally supported 
the Union, but not as an Abolitionist, for he was always op- 
posed to abolition, but as an opponent to secession and a 
steadfast adherent to the Union his fathers had helped to 
establish. His .decided stand against secession, when so 
much seemed to depend on the action of Missouri, helped to 
save the State to the Union, and made his action one of 
national consideration. He was never married, was a man of 
free-and-easy habits, and died in 1871. 

* 127. Kansas Troubles. — Sectional contention would 
not cease. In 1854 it arose afresh when a bill passed Con- 
gress organizing Kansas into a Territory. The Missouri 
Compromise had been repealed by that bill. Senator At- 
chison of Missouri was the leader in Congress who brought 
about its repeal. The Compromise was the first effort 
made by Congress to interfere with the local institutions or 
affairs of a State. It can not be wondered at, then, that all 
of Missouri's representatives in Congress were in favor of its 
repeal. But other States saw the injustice of the discrimina- 
tion made by that compromise against a part of the Union. 
The bill for the repeal passed overwhelmingly, and declared in 
favor of letting the inhabitants of any new Territory deter- 
mine for themselves whether or not they wished slavery 
therein. By this privilege the people of Kansas could decide 
for themselves in favor of slavery or against it. This was the 
same doctrine as the fourth of the Jackson Resolutions. (See 
Section 114.) 

128. A Contest Between North and South.— Both 
North and South wished to be triumphant in Kansas. The 
struggle is important as a part of the history of each, and 
especially of Missouri, because it was the last peaceful con- 
test for political supremacy by each before final appeal to 
arms, and on the part of the South Missouri was the chief rep- 



108 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

resentative, while Massachusetts was the most aggressive 
actor among the Northern States. To gain a majority of the 
people of Kansas to declare against slavery, Emigration Aid 
Companies were organized in Massachusetts and throughout 
the North, which sent out men to Kansas to be ready to vote. 
These companies practically sent out men only. As many as 
223 men to five women were in one company. A United 
States marshal who searched this company found no agri- 
cultural implements, but many guns and revolvers and much 
ammunition. All the companies were not as this one, but 
there were few actual settlers. By such a course it became 
evident that Kansas would become a free State. 

129. Blue Lodges. — Counter aid societies were formed 
in Missouri. They were known as Blue Lodges. Their 
objects were the same as those of the Emigrant Aid Com- 
panies. Neither were right. But the Missourians thought 
themselves far less to blame for aiding in the formation of a 
new State adjoining their border and so far inhabited, in the 
main, by their own kinsmen, than were people of a State a 
thousand miles away. Besides, the Blue Lodges were formed 
as a result of, and as a counter-balance to, the Emigrant Aid 
Companies. Just how many pretended settlers were sent 
out by either of these societies will never be known. Much 
illegal voting was done on both sides in the ensuing years, and 
a terrible guerrilla warfare was the result. 

130. Fraudulent Voting. — An election of the mem- 
bers of the Kansas Territorial Legislature which Congress had 
provided for was held in March, 1855. The pro-slavery 
party, or the "Missourians," as it was called, was successful. 
In February previous a census showed an entire population 
of 8,601, and 2,905 voters, of whom a large majority were 
from slave States. There were 6,307 votes cast. The East- 
ern immigrants charged that 5,000 Missourians had crossed 
over into Kansas Territory and voted. The pro-slavery men 
charged that a company of Northern immigrants had arrived 



FROM 1852 TO 18G0. 109 

at Lawrence on the day of the election and voted notwith- 
standing such a short stay. Undoubtedly there was much 
illegal voting on both sides, and the evidence seems to be 
strong, though not conclusive, that the Missourians were 
the more numerous if not the chief sinners. 

131. General Lawlessness. — The anti-slavery men re- 
fused to acknowledge the authority of this Territorial Legis- 
lature. They disregarded its laws whenever they chose and 
resisted arrest whenever they were brought to account for so 
doing. Then began the active trouble. The grand jury made 
some indictments, and the sheriff attempted to arrest the 
offenders. They resisted, and the anti-slavery leaders, by 
speeches, through their papers and in many ways, urged them 
to do so. The sheriff ordered bystanders to assist him in 
making the arrests. The offenders would then be joined by 
anti-slavery sympathizers. These contending factions soon 
learned to rob each other, burn each other's houses and destroy 
other property. From these differences in Kansas sprang 
many kinds of lawless and political crimes, and finally a 
civil war between the rival factions which did not end till the 
final establishment of the anti-slavery party in 1859. 

132. John Brown. — rDuring these disturbances John 
Brown inaugurated a system of murder for opinion's sake, 
and in the dead of night put to death five peaceable settlers 
whom he had never before seen, whose only crime was that 
they differed with him in regard to slavery. For this crime 
he went unpunished. Such a course soon brought into 
activity a set of robbers and marauders who were described 
as "Jayhawkers." The counties in Missouri adjoining Kan- 
sas now began to suffer. They had much more property to 
lose than those of Kansas because they were older settlements. 
These marauders were not slow to learn this fact. They 
cared as little for Missouri law as for Kansas authority. 
They came into these counties and took whatever they could. 
One of these raids was headed by John Brown, and was made 



110 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

in December, 1858. He took away eleven slaves. A slave 
owner was also killed whose only offense seems to have been 
an objection to the way in which he was dispossessed of his 
property. This raid was made soon after the Governors of the 
two States had attempted to bring about a reconciliation. 
There were other raids also, in which "peaceable and law- 
abiding citizens" were subjected to outrages, insults and law- 
less violence. The General Assembly of Missouri appropri- 
ated thirty thousand dollars to be used by Governor Stewart 
as he thought best. Three thousand dollars were offered 
as a reward for John Brown. He nevertheless succeeded in 
conducting the negroes into Canada and then sold his stolen 
horses in Ohio. All his raids in Missouri were marked by 
blood. Yet he was received in many parts of the North, 
not as a monomaniac or a fugitive from justice, but as a 
popular hero. But the efforts put forth by the Legislature, 
the Governors of Missouri and Kansas, and the officers of 
the United States Army, partially quieted the troubles, 
and the guerrilla warfare ceased for two years. 

133. Montgomery's Raid. — But in 1860 it began 
again. This time the J ay hawkers were led by the desperate 
James Montgomery. They broke up a United States court 
and compelled the judge and its officers to flee for their lives. 
They also killed a citizen of Missouri named Samuel Hindes. 
Their charge against him was that he was in search of run- 
away slaves. Congress had some time before this passed the 
Fugitive Slave Law, by which any slave owner was per- 
mitted to pursue a fugitive slave into a free State, recover 
him and return to his home. It was while Hindes was in 
search of a fugitive slave in Kansas that Montgomery estab- 
lished himself at Fort Scott, a town just over the Missouri 
border, whence he declared he intended to "clean out south- 
ern Missouri of its slaves." 

134. Excitement. — The people of Missouri became 
very much excited at these threats. Exaggerated reports 



FROM 1852 TO 18G0. Ill 

were brought to Governor Stewart that Montgomery had 
begun to lay waste the country and that ''citizens of Missouri 
on the Osage and in Bates and Vernon are flying from their 
homes into the interior." Brigadier-General D. M. Frost was 
ordered to proceed to the border with enough men to end the 
difficulty. He reached it in November, 1860, with 650 troops, 
but found General Harney of the United States Army had 
preceded him. Montgomery, at the advance of these forces, 
disbanded his Jayhawkers and fled. Frost in his report to 
Governor Stewart said Hindes's "only crime was that he had 
been faithful to the laws of his State." He also says the 
"deserted and charred remains of once happy homes" were 
general. 

135. Jayhawking now ceased as such, but it did not 
actually cease. It did not cease during the first two or three 
years of the Civil War, nor indeed so long as there was left 
anything along the Missouri border for the Jayhawkers to 
steal or anybody to rob. But they then came with United 
States commissions in their pockets under "which guise they 
carried on a system of robbery and murder which left a 
good portion of the frontier of southwest Missouri an entire 
waste." 

136. General Progress. — The progress in wealth and 
population from 1850 to 1860 was enormous, notwithstand- 
ing the predatory disturbances on the Kansas border. The 
population had increased from 682,000 to 1,182,000, a net 
increase of a half million, and an increase in percentage of 
seventy-three for the ten years. Of this number 115,000 
were slaves. Their increase had been 27,000, or thirty per 
cent. Of all the population 160,000, or one-seventh, were 
foreign-born in 1860. Of these 88,000 were Germans, and 
43,000 were Irish. The revolutions in Germany in 1849 had 
caused many of its inhabitants to seek safety in Missouri. 
This explains the large immigration of Germans during this 
decade. The failure of the potato crop in Ireland in 1846-47 



112 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

will also explain the large immigration from that country. 
These new immigrants turned their attention mostly to farm- 
ing, especially the Germans, and became useful and pros- 
perous citizens. Missouri had risen in these ten years from 
the rank of thirteenth to eighth in the number of her popula- 
tion and was now the first of the Southern States. 

137. Missouri's Financial Prosperity was not behind 
the increase in population. The assessed value of her prop- 
erty had risen from one hundred and thirty-seven million 
dollars in 1850 to five hundred and one million in 1860, an 
increase of 265 per cent. The property consisted mostly in 
farms and agricultural wealth. The manufactured products 
were estimated at forty million dollars in 1860 and the capital 
invested in factories was twenty millions. But much wealth 
was made known during this decade. By a system of sur- 
veys it became known that one-fifth of the State is underlaid 
with workable beds of coal; that there are "more than a 
thousand valuable veins of lead and half as many of iron, 
besides many of zinc, hydraulic lime-stone and other 
minerals. The new immigrants had also shown that much of 
the country south of the Osage River, heretofore regarded as 
worthless, was very valuable for grapes and other fruits." 

Questions on Chapter IX. 

1. Who was elected Governor In 1852? (118) 

2. To what party did he belong? (118) 

3. Who was the Whig candidate? (118) 

4. From what great orator was he descended? (118) 

5. Give a sketch of the hfe of Sterling Price. (119) 

6. What is said of internal improvements? (120) 

7. What railroads were aided by the state? (121) 

8. How did the state aid them? (121) 

9. In what did the state's debt of after years originate? ( 121) 

10. Tell about the construction of railroads. (122) 

11. What is said of matches, pens and tomatoes? (123) 

12. Can you mention some other useful things that have since come 

into general use? 

13. Who were the candidates for governor in 1856? (124) 



THE ELECTION OF 1860. 113 

14 Who was elected? (124) 

15. Why was a special election necessary? (124) 

16. Who was elected? (124) 

17. Who was acting Governor in the interim? (124) 

18. Give a sketch of the life of Trusten Polk. (125) 

19. Give a sketch of the life of Robert M. Stewart. (126) 

20. What was the occasion of new sectional trouble? (127) 

21. What was necessary before Kansas could decide to have slavery? 

(127) Why? (58, 113) 

22. Between what was the contest in Kansas? (128) 

23. Describe the Emigration Societies. (128) 

24. What counter aid societies were formed in Missouri? (129) 

25. What have you to say of these organizations? (129) 

26. What was the result in Kansas? (129) 

27. What about the Kansas election in 1855? (130) 

28. Give some incidents of the general lawlessness that followed 

these fraudulent votings. (131) 

29. What is said of John Brown? (132) 

30. What other raids were there? (132) 

31. What action did Missouri take to stop them? (132) 

32. What was the result at pacification? (132) 

33. What is said of Montgomery's raid? (133) 

34. What report reached the Governor? (134) 

35. What did Frost report that he found? (134) 

36. What is said of Missouri's progress from 1850 to 1860? (136) 

37. How about her financial progress? (137) 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ELECTION OF 1860. 

138. The Situation. — ^The troubles in Kansas and the 
debates in Congress on the subject of slavery had given force 
to the formation of a new party wholly devoted to opposing 
the extension of slavery. It in time took the name of Repub- 
lican. In 1856 its candidate for the Presidency was John C. 
Fremont, a son-in-law of Thos. H. Benton. He received 114 
of the 296 electoral votes, and hence the new party had great 
hopes of success as the campaign of 1860 approached. Public 

8 



114 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

-» 
feeling became deeply disturbed. The whole country was 
aflame with sectional animosities. The agitation for abolition 
had stirred the people as nothing else had ever done. A 
large class of people in the North were determined to destroy 
slavery at any cost. Many people in the South felt that the 
only way to preserve their own peace and property was to 
quietly withdraw from the Union. Others believed it wisdom 
to remain in the Union and there settle their troubles. It 
seems strange now that any civilized people who had estab- 
lished and for seventy years lived under a republic of popular 
sovereignty, could have wished to perpetuate slavery. But 
there were mitigating circumstances. Slavery had originally 
existed in all the Colonies. When it became unprofitable in 
the North the slaves were sold into the South where it was 
profitable. Many of the now slave-owners had inherited it 
from their fathers and not sought it. Slaves were valuable 
property. Men have, in every civilized country, been slow to 
give up valuable property without resistance. Besides, it 
was difficult to know what to do with the slaves if they were 
freed. That was a hard problem. Thousands of men in 
the South, many of them slave-owners, who at heart were 
opposed to slavery, thought emancipation meant confusion 
and social disorders. Many persons feared the consequences if 
millions of ignorant people should be turned loose, penniless, 
among their old owners. Beyond this, it can be said in all 
truthfulness that slavery had been a benefit to the slaves them- 
selves. They had been taken from savage and barbarous races 
in Africa, and the discipline of slavery in America had taught 
them many of the habits of civilization. They had learned 
how to w^ork, which always exalts a people; had learned the 
arts of peace and frugal honesty. But this discipline, this im- 
provement, made it less dangerous to trust them with free- 
dom. It had prepared them more and more for its useful en- 
joyment when it should come. Besides, the principle of 
universal freedom had more and more become a part of 



THE ELECTION OF 1860. 115 

American life, and one strong reason for the extinction of 
slavery was the desire of the slaves themselves to be free. 

139. The Fugitive Slave Law and Nullification. — 

The Fugitive Slave Law did much to intensify the conten- 
tions and troubles between the North and South. It had 
been passed by Congress a few years before and gave to each 
slave-owner the right to pursue a runaway slave into any 
State and retake him without any verdict from a court de- 
claring who was the rightful owner. All the claimant had to 
do was to exhibit to a sheriff a certificate from a county clerk 
describing the slave. The officer was then required to put 
the slave into his peaceable possession. This law the United 
States Supreme Court said did not violate the Constitution. 
The decision gave great offense to the North. At least four- 
teen Northern States by their Legislatures soon passed laws 
nullifying the Fugitive Slave Law by making it a crime for 
any sheriff to obey it, and by forbidding any state officer to 
aid in enforcing it. Their course made it impossible to en- 
force this law of Congress. The Southern States then argued 
that if fourteen Northern States could thus nullify a law of 
the Union they could withdraw from that Union. In the 
Presidential campaign of 1860 the Breckenridge party in the 
South declared if the Republican party were successful at the 
polls the Southern States would withdraw from the Union. 
When it did succeed they proceeded at once to carry out that 
threat. 

140. The Election. — The Democratic party in 1860 
divided into two factions. One part, known as the State- 
rights men, nominated John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky for 
President. The other part, which was opposed to secession 
and to the interference by the national Government with the 
local affairs and institutions of any State, nominated Stephen 
A. Douglas of Illinois. The remnant of the old Whig and 
Know Nothing parties, now known as Constitution-Union 
men, nominated John Bell of Tennessee for President and 



116 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Edward Everett of Massachusetts for Vice-President. The 
RepubHcans nominated Abraham Lincoln. The contest in 
Missouri was warm and intense, but not violent. The State 
was carried by Douglas, and it was the only State, except 
New Jersey, that gave him its electoral vote. Mr. Lincoln 
was elected. The number of votes for Douglas in Missouri 
was 58,801, for Bell 58,372, for Breckenridge 31,317, for 
Lincoln 17,028. Nearly all those voting for Lincoln were 
Germans. Of those who voted for Breckenridge, not half 
were in favor of secession. Many of them had come from 
the South, and in the intense excitement of the time their 
sympathies naturally enlisted them with the Southern Rights 
men who carried every Southern State. Besides, most of 
them, perhaps all, opposed the interference by Congress with 
a right which they claimed belonged alone to each individual 
State — to decide for itself whether or not it would abolish 
or continue slavery. But they did not wish to carry this 
opposition to the extreme of secession. 

141. The State Ticket.— On the State ticket the 
Democrats did not divide. Their candidate was Claiborne 
F. Jackson of Saline County, who was a Douglas Democrat 
and who received 74,446 votes. Sample Orr, an ''American" 
or "Know Nothing," received 64,583 votes. The Brecken- 
ridge candidate was Hancock Jackson, who received 11,415 
votes. James Gardenhire was the Republican candidate; he 
received only 6,135 votes. Jackson was elected. 

Questions on Chapter X. 

1. What was now being formed? (138) 

2. What is said of pubhc feehng? (138) 

3. What was the attitude of many people in the North toward 

slavery? (138) 

4. How did the Southern people feel about it? (138) 

5. What is said about the existence of slavery? (138) 

6. What is said about its benefits to the slaves? (138) 

7. What reasons for the extinction of slavery? (138) 

8. What is said of the Fugitive Slave Law? (139) 



THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 117 

9. How had the North nulHfied it? (139) 

10. What did the South argue from this? (139) 

11. Howdid the Democratic party divide in 1860? (140) 

12. Who were the four candidates for President and of what parties? 

(140) 

13. Approximate the vote of each in Missouri. (140) 

14. How about the State ticket? (141) 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 

142. Confronted with Secession. — On December 20th, 
1860, South CaroHna, through her Legislature, declared she 
no longer owed any allegiance to the Union. Within six 
weeks Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, and 
Texas — seven States — seceded. As Missouri was at this time 
the first in population of the slave-holding States, and as 
most of her people were of Southern origin , it may be seen at 
once that she was now confronted with the gravest problem 
she had ever had to settle. 

143. The Governors. — Robert M. Stewart, the retir- 
ing Governor, had been reared in New York and his feelings 
naturally inclined him with the North. He sincerely desired 
to keep Missouri in the Union. But he was opposed to forc- 
ing South Carolina and the other seceded States back into 
the Union, and if the Union should undertake to do this he 
was opposed to Missouri helping in the undertaking. He 
was also opposed to troops coming into Missouri either to 
wrest her from the Union or keep her in it. He stated the 
proper position for Missouri to assume and adhere to was 
"armed neutrality" — that is, to take no part in the war, if 
war came, but be armed and prepared to resist invasion by 
any armed force. There can be no doubt, as subsequent 
events under more exasperating tests showed, that at this 
time the great majority of the people of Missouri were of the 



118 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



same opinion as Governor Stewart. They did not wish the 
State to secede or to take any part in forcing the seceded States 
back into the Union. The votes given the various candi- 
dates in November showed this and the election in February 
made it still clearer. 

144. Governor Jackson. — Governor Jackson, unlike 
Governor Stewart, had been reared in the South, and many 
social and political ties bound him to her people. In his in- 
augural address he declared that all Missouri wished was "to 
be let alone." He believed the Northern States, by passing 
laws which nullified the Fugitive Slave Law, had themselves 
practically abandoned the Union. He believed if arms were 
employed by the Federal Government to force a State back 
into the Union that it would be such an insult as all the 
States ought to resent, and in that event the true position for 
Missouri would be to secede and unite with the South. It 
can not be denied that Governor Jackson was at this time 
in favor of Missouri's seceding if the Federal Government 
should make war on the seceded States to force them back 
into the Union, but until that was done he was not in favor 

of secession. But this po- 
sition he afterward abandoned, 
when the seceded States attempt- 
ed to capture the Government 
forts and arsenals within their 
respective borders. He then 
took the position at first de- 
clared by Stewart that the 
proper course for Missouri was 
to preserve an "armed neu- 
trality," and keep out of the 
State all "marauders, come from 
what quarter they may," but 
to take no part herself in the 
conflict between the States. 




Claiborne F. Jackson. 



THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 119 

145. The Legislature. — The Lieutenant-Governor, 
whose duty it is to preside over the Senate, was Thomas C. 
Reynolds. From the outset he was in favor of secession, 
because he beheved it impossible for Missouri to preserve an 
"armed neutrality" in the impending conflict, which he saw 
was inevitable. He accordingly urged the General Assembly 
to declare Missouri determined to resist all attempts by the 
Federal Government to force the seceded States back into 
the Union or to collect the Government revenue in those 
States. He also urged that to make her able to resist coer- 
cion she must organize and enlarge her military forces. He 
appointed all the committees of the Senate in accordance with 
his views, and placed men on these committees who would 
endeavor to shape legislation in keeping therewith. Bills 
were immediately introduced in both houses to arm and 
equip the State militia, and to provide for a State convention 
to consider what position Missouri should take in regard to 
secession. These bills were received with prompt and almost 
unanimous approval in the General Assembly. 

146. The Convention Authorized. — The bill creating 
the convention passed the General Assembly and became 
a law on January 18th. In the Senate there were only two 
votes against it. In the House there were 18 against and 
105 for it. The duties and powers thus committed to this 
convention were contained in the words creating it, which 
said it was "to consider the relations between the United 
States . . . and the State of Missouri; and to adopt such 
measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and 
the protection of Its institutions as shall appear to them to 
be demanded." Thie law also provided if such convention 
should finally pass a secession ordinance that it should never 
be valid until submitted to the people and adopted by a ma- 
jority of the qualified voters of the State. These words 
creating this convention are important, for it is to be ob- 
served that whatever might have been the individual wishes 



120 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

of the members of this General Assembly for secession, yet 
they voluntarily transferred to other hands whatever power 
they had to take her out of the Union, and besides deter- 
mined that this must be done, if done at all, by the people 
themselves. 

147. The People.^The election of delegates to this 
convention was to take place on February 18th, just one month 
after the bill creating it became a law. A thorough canvass 
was at once begun throughout the State and carried forward 
with great interest till the end. The people divided into 
three parties, namely. Secessionists, Conditional Union men 
and Unconditional Union men. The leaders of the Seces- 
sionists were Governor Jackson, Lieutenant-Governor Rey- 
nolds, both United States Senators (James S. Green and 
Trusten Polk), General D. R. Atchison (formerly United 
States Senator) and Thos. L. Snead (editor of the St. Louis 
Bulletin). They did not desire the disruption of the Union, 
and deplored the haste of South Carolina and the other States 
in leaving it. But believing that all the seceded States would 
remain out of the Union and form a separate confederacy, 
they considered it the true duty of all the slave-holding 
States to unite together; believing also, that if a separate con- 
federacy were formed, there would be war between it and the 
Union, they felt they were bound by the strongest kindred 
ties to stand by the South. They were not especially devoted 
to slavery. In fact slavery was no longer the most prominent 
question in these discussions. It was from this time on put 
far in the background. The issue rose transcendently above 
this. "They were secessionists only because they believed 
the Union had been dissolved, that its reconstruction was 
impossible, that war was inevitable, and that in war the place 
for Missouri was by the side of the Southern States of which 
she was one." 

148. The Conditional Union Men. — The Conditional 
Union men were the most formidable opponents of the Se- 



THE FIRST MONTHS OF 1861. 121 

cessionists. They were led by Judge Hamilton R. Gamble 
of St. Louis, General A. W. Doniphan of Clay, Congressman 
James S. Rollins of Boone, Congressman John B. Clark of 
Howard, Ex-Governor Sterling Price of Chariton, Ex-Gov- 
ernor R. M. Stewart of St. Joseph, Judge William A. Hall 
of Randolph, Congressman John S. Phelps of Greene, and 
Judge John F. Ryland of Lafayette, ably assisted by the Mis- 
souri Republican, then the ablest paper west of the Missis- 
sippi, and edited by the great Nathaniel Paschall, "a man of 
mature age, strong intellect and consummate common sense." 
These leaders were the ablest, most popular, and most promi- 
nent men in the State, and it is doubtful if any State in the 
Union could have shown at that time a finer array of many- 
sided great men,. Their astuteness, popularity and well- 
known patriotism, added to the fact that many of them were 
themselves large slave-owners, at once began to divide the 
Secessionists. They were for the Union, provided the Fed- 
eral Government would not attempt to force the seceded 
States back and coerce them into submission. They declared 
themselves ready to resist coercion. But they did not fear it. 
They pleaded with patriotic pride for the preservation of the 
Union of their fathers, which had been bought with blood, 
and which had brought a thousand blessings to one curse; 
they urged the people that they nmst not allow their feelings 
to control them, but must remember that the steps they took 
might involve their children and their children's children in 
untold misery. 

149. The Unconditional Union Men. — The Uncon- 
ditional Union men were for the Union come what might. 
They believed the seceded States should be coerced into sub- 
mission. The impersonation of this movement was Francis 
Prestbn Blair. He saw that the only outcome of the trouble 
was war, that it must come in the near future and he was 
determined to hold Missouri for the Union. Blair contended 
that what was wanted in the convention were "men who were 



122 



HISTORY OP MISSOURI. 



now and who would hereafter, under all circumstances, and 
in every emergency, be for the Union;" that he himself in- 
tended to stand by it to the last and to oppose in every way 
the secession of Missouri. At first his chief following was 

among the Germans, who had 
no kindred in the South, who 
had bought their lands from 
the Federal Government, who 
had enjoyed uninterrupted peace 
under it, and who felt that they 
should stand by it. But soon 
he had some able seconds. They 
were Samuel T. Glover, James 
O. Broadhead, B. Gratz Brown, 
and Edward Bates, all of St. 
Louis. 

150. Missouri Declares 
for the Union. — The .elec- 
tion of ninety-nine delegates to 
this Convention took place on 
February 18th, and resulted in an overwhelming victory for 
the Union cause. Not a single avowed Secessionist was 
elected. The Union candidates received a total majority of 
eighty thousand, and the entire vote for them was almost 
three-fourths of all the ballots cast. It was a great disap- 
pointment to the General Assembly, whose members had 
confidently looked for an overwhelming victory for secession. 
It put a stop to any preparations by it for war, and for two 
months the discussions were mild, and submissive to the pop- 
ular will. On the other hand, the triumph of the Union men 
emboldened the Convention, after a session or two, to take 
the extremest action. 




Francis Preston Blair. 



THE CONVENTION. 123 

Questions on Chapter XI. 

1. What was now the situation? (142) 

•2. State fully the attitude of Governor Stewart. (143) 

3. What was the attitude of the people? (143) 

4. What was Governor Jackson's position? (144) 

5. Did he afterwards abandon this position? (144) 

6. What position did he then take? (144) 

7. How did Reynolds try to lead the Legislature? (145) 

8. What two bills were passed? (145) 

9. What powers did the Legislature delegate to the Convention? 

(146) 

10. Who alone did the Legislature consider had a right to take Mis- 

souri out of the Union? (146) 

11. Who were the leaders of the Secessionists? (147) 

12. What is said of their attitude? (147) 

13. Who were the leaders of the Conditional Union men? (148) 

14. What is said of them? (148) 

15. What was their position? (148) 

16. What was the position of the Unconditional Union men? (149) 

17. Who was their great leader? (149) 

18. What was the result of the election? (150) 

19. How was it regarded by the General Assembly? (150) 

20. How did it affect the convention? (150) 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE CONVENTION. 

151. The Convention Meets. — The convention, whose 
members had been elected on the eighteenth of February, 
the very day on which Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated 
President of the Confederacy, met at Jefferson City on the 
last of the month. Ex-Governor Sterling Price was ^ected 
President. He was an avowed Union man. The fifteen 
State-rights men voted for Nathaniel W. Watkins, a half- 
brother of Henry Clay. Soon after organization the con- 
vention adjourned to meet in St. Louis on March 4th, the day 
Lincoln became President. Its members were the ablest men 
in the State, now met at the time of the greatest crisis in its 



124 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

history, "to consider its relations to the Government of the 
United States." Of the ninety-nine members fifty- three were 
natives of either Virginia or Kentucky, three were Germans 
and one an Irishman. Thirteen were from the North. Ham- 
ilton R. Gamble, who had been Supreme Judge of the State; 
Willard P. Hall, the vice-president; Robert Wilson, of great 
ability; James O. Broadhead, one of her ablest and most schol- 
arly lawyers; and John B. Henderson, always a steadfast op- 
ponent of secession, were Virginians. They were conserva- 
tive men; they did not want war; they wanted to preserve 
the Union, but they did not wish to do injustice to any man, 
and they deplored the radicalism of those who, on the one side, 
were eager for war, and on the other desired secession. 

152. Against Secession and War. — The Committee 
on Federal Relations, through its chairman, Hamilton R. 
Gamble of St. Louis, on the ninth of March made a report 
declaring that secession by Missouri was "certainly not de- 
manded." A part of the report said that "the true position 
for Missouri to assume is that of a State whose interests are 
bound up in the maintenance of the Union, and whose kind 
feelings and strong sympathies are with the people of the 
Southern States, with whom we are connected by the ties of 
friendship and blood." The resolutions were adopted by, 
almost a unanimous vote, the opposition of each being only 
five or six votes. Thus was secession finally defeated. 

153. The Moss Resolution. — The Convention also de- 
clared the employment of military force to coerce the seceded 
States back into the Union would plunge the country into 
war, and therefore "earnestly entreated" the Federal Govern- 
ment and the seceded States "to withhold and stay the arm 
of military power and upon no pretext whatever to bring 
upon the nation the horrors of civil war." But a difference of 
opinion manifested itself in the convention when the question 
was raised, What would Missouri do if the President should 
call on her to furnish troops to coerce the seceded States? 



THE CONVENTION. 125 

They were opposed to coercion, but what would Missouri 
do if she were going to remain in the Union, if Congress and 
the President determined to undertake coercion and vshould 
call on her for troops for the purpose? Mr. James H. Moss, 
a delegate of ability from Clay County, said he would not vote 
for secession under any circumstances, but introduced a reso- 
lution asking the convention to declare that Missouri would 
"never furnish men or money for the purpose of aiding the 
Federal Government in any attempts to coerce a seceding 
State." He supported the resolution warmly, and passion- 
ately pleaded with the convention to pass it. He declared 
"Missouri would never, never furnish a regiment to invade a 
seceded State." William A. Hall, of Randolph, who had been 
a circuit judge for sixteen years, replied to Mr. Moss, in 
argument that could not be gainsaid, that "if Missouri 
remained in the Union it would be her duty to furnish both 
men and money to the Federal Government when properly 
called upon for them, whether to coerce a State into submis- 
sion or for any other purpose." John B. Henderson, of Pike, 
declared "the President has no more power to use force than 
you or I," and that no man could believe the "President will 
so far disregard his duties under the Constitution, or forget 
the obligations of his oath, as to undertake the subjugation 
of the Southern States by force." James O. Broadhead did not 
believe the Federal Government had a right to coerce a State, 
but did contend that it had power to use armed forces to 
suppress insurrection. Nearly all the delegates spoke against 
coercion, yet the Moss resolution failed, some voting against 
it because it was useless, a greater number honestly accepting 
Judge Hall's logic. By "the pitiless logic of facts" when 
the war did come on, Moss became a consistent supporter of 
the Union ; Henderson was one of the most ardent supporters 
of Lincoln in the use of force; and Broadhead concurred with 
Lyon in making the attack on Camp Jackson and otherwise 



126 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

aided in the efforts to coerce Governor Jackson and the Leg- 
islature into submission. 

154. Adjourned. — The Convention, after it passed these 
resolutions, brought its labors to a close and adjourned on 
March 22th, subject to the call of the executive committee. 
By this last arrangement it provided a way for self-perpetua- 
tion till secession became utterly impossible, as we shall here- 
after see. On the twenty-eighth of the same month the 
Legislature. adjourned without having made any arrangements 
for the war, or for raising and supporting a militia for the pro- 
tection of the State. In fact it may be said, in all truthful- 
ness, that the vast majority of the people did not want war, 
nor did their desires go to the extent of even those of Gov- 
ernor Stewart, who counseled "armed neutrality." They 
did want neutrality; they did not want to secede from the 
Union, nor did they wish to fight for or against the Union. 
They wanted compromise and adjustment. But they were 
not permitted to have a free choice for adjustment. Radical 
men scoffed at neutrality, armed or unarmed; and events 
rapidly developed which made it plain that Missouri could not 
remain neutral. 

155. More Light. — The election of United States Sen- 
ator this year throws some light on the position the Gen- 
eral Assembly regarded the State as holding towards seces- 
sion. Early in the session, when it became apparent that a 
convention would be held to consider the question of seces- 
sion, the Legislature had determined not to elect a successor 
to James S. Green, whose term would expire on March 3rd, till 
after it was learned whether the people preferred secession 
or the Union. When they voted for the Union, the Legisla- 
ture proceeded to elect a Senator on March 12th. Mr. Green 
had been one of the most popular men in the State; at the 
age of thirty-two he had led the fight against Benton in 1849, 
was regarded as the ablest speaker in Missouri, for four years 
was a Representative in Congress, and in 1857 had been 



THE CONVENTION. 127 

elected to the Senate and was said by James G. Blaine thirty 
years later to have had "few peers and no superiors" in that 
body. But he was at this time an avowed secessionist. His 
election was, therefore, impossible, although on one ballot 
he got 76 out of the 156 votes cast. Waldo P. Johnson, of 
Osceola, St. Clair County, was elected on the fifteenth ballot. 
As indicating the part taken in the war by those most prom- 
inent in bringing it on, it is proper here to remark that James 
S. Green, who was set aside for being a secessionist, "did not 
raise his hand or his voice for the South during the war, while 
Johnson, who had been elected because he was a good Union 
man, quickly resigned his seat in the Senate, entered the army 
and fought for the Confederacy till the end of the war." 

Questions on Chapter XII. 

1. Who was elected president of the convention? (151) 

2. When did it meet in St. Louis? (151) 

3. What is said of its n:embers? (151) 

4. What about their nativity? (151) 

5. Name some of them. (151) 

6. What report did the committee on Federal Relations decide on? 

(152)_ 

7. Was this report adopted? (152) 

8. What was the Moss resolution? (153) 

9. What did Mr. Moss say in regard to it? (153) 

10. How did Hall answer him? (153) 

11. What did John B. Henderson say? (153) 

12. What was Broadhead's belief? (153) 

13. What is said of "the pitiless logic of facts?" (153) 

14. How did the convention arrange to perpetuate itself? (154) 

15. What was the attitude of the people? (154) 

16. What is said of the election of U. S. Senator this year? (155) 

17. And what of the after conduct of Green and Johnson? (155) 



128 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 

156. The Government Arsenal. — There was a Govern- 
ment arsenal in St. Louis, well stored with forty thousand 
guns and other valuable munitions of war. This arsenal now 
became the center of all warlike intentions. Both sides wanted 
it, in the event that there was to be war. Governor Jackson 
had now come to believe war to be inevitable, and if it came he 
believed Missouri would be the natural ally of the South, and 
he determined to put her on that side if he could. He did not 
declare this purpose publicly, but he instructed General 
Frost, who had gone into camp just at the edge of St. Louis 
after his return from the Kansas troubles, with about 700 
men, to keep himself well informed of all movements, and, if 
he deemed it necessary, to seize the arsenal and hold it for 
future disposal. General Frost in furtherance of this plan 
waited upon its commander. Major Bell, who frankly told 
him that he thought the State had a right to claim the arsenal 
as being on her soil and that he would not defend it against 
the proper State authorities. But before Frost could thus 
peaceably take possession of the arsenal, it was supplied with 
additional troops. Major Bell was relieved of command, and 
Major Hagner put in his place, and by the eighteenth of Febru- 
ary, the day on which the State voted not to secede, there were 
four or five hundred soldiers behind the walls, able to repulse 
almost any attack which might be made on it, and on the next 
day General Harney notified the President that there was no 
danger of an attack and never had been. In this condition 
of things each side would have gone on without any disturbance 
from the other, had there not appeared on the scene a man who 
was ready and anxious for war. This man was Captain 
Nathaniel Lyon. 



I 



THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 



129 



157. Captain Lyon was born at Ashford, Connecticut, 
educated at West Point and was an officer of the Standing 
Army, He was at this time forty-three years old and is 
described by a close friend as having been ''of less than medium 
height; slender and angular; with abundant hair of a sandy 
color, and a coarse, reddish-brown beard. He had deep-set 
blue eyes, and features that were rough and homely" — 
though his pictures do not portray a face .either rough or 
homely. His disposition made him fretful and impatient 
under restraint. He could see only one side of a question, 
but he saw that with terrible earnestness, and with no 
patience with any person who saw the other side. All persons 
who did not agree with him he regarded as being influenced by 
unworthy or improper motives. He was devoted to the Union 
and always eager to crush those who were not. Upon his 
arrival at St, Louis he at once set to work to make himself de- 
partment commander, and never ceased until he had been 
given almost unlimited power to 
do as he pleased. His chief 
helper was Frank Blair, who at 
all times pushed him forward. 
Yet he was restive, and this led 
him to fear that Mr, Lincoln 
"lacked the resolution to grap- 
ple with treason and to put it 
down forever," He thought the 
best thing to do with a con- 
servative man like Major Hag- 
ner was to "pitch him in the 
river." He had been in Kansas 
through all its border troubles between the Free-soil and the 
Pro-slavery men. He had formed the greatest dislike for the 
latter and in the troubles between the two factions said he 
foresaw "sectional strife, which I do not care to delay." He 
came to St. Louis possessed with this idea and feeling, and at 




Captain Lyon, 



130 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

once went to drilling the "Wide Awakes" and other volunteer 
soldiers gathered by Blair, and those quartered within the 
arsenal. In this he showed the greatest diligence and skill. 
He inspired all Union partisans with his own courage and zeal. 
By the middle of April, four regiments had been enlisted, and 
he proceeded to arm them with guns from the arsenal. With 
this well-trained force he and Blair felt strong enough to 
attack Governor Jackson and his followers, and they lost no 
time in finding a pretext for so doing. 

158. A Call for Troops. — Fort Sumter surrendered to 
a Confederate army on April 13, 1861. On the same day 
President Lincoln issued a proclamation "for seventy-five 
thousand men to suppress combination^ too powerful to be 
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," 
and on the same day the Secretary of War telegraphed Gover- 
nor Jackson his requisition for four regiments of infantry. 
On the sixteenth the Governor replied: "Not one man will 
the State of Missouri furnish to carry on an unholy crusade 
upon the seceded States." The people of Missouri indorsed 
the Governor's reply, but to Blair and Lyon it was reason 
enough to make an attack upon Frost. Besides, this reply 
was supplemented by frequent reports that guns and am- 
munition, obtained from the Government arsenal in Louisiana, 
had been secretly brought up the river and conveyed to Camp 
Jackson, where Frost's little command was now encamped. 

159. Liberty Arsenal. — There was another Govern- 
ment arsenal about four miles south of Liberty in Clay County. 
It was in charge of Major Nathaniel Grant and two other 
men, and contained about 11,000 pounds of powder, about 
1500 guns and twenty or thirty small cannon. On the 
twentieth of April, just seven days after President Lincoln's call 
for troops, 200 men under the command of Colonel H. L. 
Routt, most of them from Clay and Jackson counties, quietly 
took possession of this arsenal, with no interruption except 
the protests and railings of Grant, at whom they only laughed. 



THE ARSENAL AND CAMP J[ACKSON. 131 

Within the next few days they carried away most of the guns 
and powder. These were never retaken, but were used in 
after years in the service of the Confederacy. The captors, 
however, seemed to have had no other purpose than to supply 
themselves with arms and ammunition for whatever troubles 
might arise. But the capture of this arsenal and the reports 
about Camp Jackson determined Lyon on making an attack 
upon that camp. 

160. Harney and Lyon. — The time was now oppor- 
tune to make the attack. General Harney, who was in 
charge of the department, and to whom therefore Lyon and 
Blair were inferior officers, had been summoned to Washing- 
ton to answer for his official conduct on the complaint of 
Blair. This complaint was founded on a conflict between 
Lyon's troops and the St. Louis police. Lyon had been 
patrolling the streets in front of the arsenal with his troops. 
This was in violation of the city laws and an interference 
with the duties of the Board of Police Commissioners. The 
Board complained to Lyon and demanded that he should 
obey the laws. Lyon refused. The Board was powerless to 
enforce their complaints in the face of his well-armed troops, 
and appealed to General Harney, his superior officer. He 
ordered Lyon to withdraw his patrols into the limits of the 
arsenal and not to issue arms to anyone except by his sanc- 
tion. This led Blair to charge Harney to the Secretary of 
War as having controverted his orders, and in consequence 
Hafney was summoned to Washington to defend himself. 
Harney, who was opposed to any aggressive attacks, was 
now out of the way and Lyon was left in full command. 

161. Lyon and Camp Jackson. — General Lyon, dis- 
guised as an old woman, on the ninth of May, the next day 
after the arms and ammunition had been received at Camp 
Jackson from Louisiana, drove through the camp, and satis- 
fied himself that the men had in their possession guns and 
ammunition which had been taken from the captured United 



132 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

States arsenal at Baton Rouge and which rightfully belonged, 
in his opinion, to the Federal Government. These were 
easily to be seen, for Frost had required them to be stacked 
outside at the entrance to the regular camp. Lyon returned 
and reported that the camp was "a nest of traitors." This 
was Thursday the ninth. Harney would return on Sunday. 
He and Blair determined on an attack forthwith, and that it 
should be made next day. On the next morning General 
Frost, who had for two days been receiving reports that Lyon 
would make an attack on his camp, addressed him a letter in 
which he denied that he or any part of his command was 
actuated by any hostile intentions to the Federal Govern- 
ment and closed by adding: "I trust after this explicit state- 
ment we may be able, by fully understanding each other, to 
keep far from our borders the misfortunes Vv^hich unhappily 
afflict our common country." But Lyon refused to receive 
the letter and sent it back unopened. His troops were already 
forming for the march to the camp, which he declared was made 
up mostly of secessionists, who were plotting to overthrow the 
Government's authority. 

162. The Attack. — He surrounded the camp with his 
well-disciplined soldiers, and sent a demand to Frost for his 
immediate and unconditional surrender. As his force num- 
bered 7,000 men and more, and Frost's 700, the latter at once 
did so. The captured soldiers stacked their arms and were 
arranged in a line along Olive Street, which was occupied by 
Lyon's troops, there halted and kept standing over an hour. 
Great numbers of men, women and children from the city 
gathered around the troops and prisoners, and at times at- 
tacked the troops with stones, and called them, in derision, 
"Dutch Blackguards," because one of the German companies 
called itself Die Schwartze Garde (the Black Guard). The 
soldiers resented this by firing into the crowd, first with a 
few shots, which were almost immediately "followed by 
volley after volley." When the firing ceased twenty-eight 



THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 133 

persons lay dead or mortally wounded, among them three of 
the prisoners who had only a little while before surrendered, 
and an infant in the arms of its mother, and one of Lyon's 
soldiers. The march was at once resumed to the arsenal and 
the next day the prisoners were released on their own parole 
not to bear arms against the Government while the Civil War 
should last. 

163. A Blunder. — The attack upon Camp Jackson 
proved to be a blunder. It was intended to crush out all 
spirit of secession in the State and completely disarm and 
crush the influence of those who wished it to secede. This 
number was small. It will be remembered that the question 
of secession had been submitted to the people on the eight- 
eenth of February and had been declared against by a major- 
ity of eighty thousand votes. Since that time instead of 
gaining the secession sentiment had waned. Even the doc- 
trine of the numerous Conditional Union men, that Missouri 
would secede only when the Federal Government should 
attempt to coerce and force the seceded States back into the 
Union, had been abandoned, and most of those who had 
prior to the election on February 18th held to this view, had 
prepared to quietly submit to this attempted coercion. With 
the exception of Governor Jackson and a handful of his en- 
thusiastic followers, the vast majority of the people preferred 
that Missouri should remain in the Union and take no part in 
the Civil War, now already begun in other States. But now 
everything was changed. In the twinkling of an eye a thrill 
of horror ran through the State at the needless killing of pri- 
vate citizens and surrendered prisoners by a foreign-born 
soldiery led by an unrelenting captain from another State, 
whose course seemed to receive the entire sanction of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. The news was telegraphed to Jefferson City 
where the Legislature had been in special session since May 2nd. 
At that very time it happened the Military Bill, designed for 
the organization of the State Militia for any emergency that 



134 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

might arise, was being considered and had been under con- 
sideration for several days. It was being successfully op- 
posed, because it was believed the people had pronounced 
against any military preparations, and for the further reason 
that it was beared the Governor might use the militia in aid of 
secession. The bill for these reasons could never have been 
passed had not the Camp Jackson affair occurred. But with- 
in fifteen minutes after the news had been received at the 
Capitol that the United States forces had attacked the State 
forces the Military Bill had been rushed through both houses 
of the General Assembly, and was ready for the Governor's 
signature. That was an indication of the rapid change in the 
feelings of the people. Within five days the Legislature 
passed laws authorizing the expenditure of over two million 
dollars "to repel invasion and put down rebellion," as it said. 
Fortunately the Legislature had some time before referred to 
the convention and to the people the question of secession; 
if this had not been done, the Legislature would now with 
equal precipitation have passed a secession ordinance. 

164. Preparations for War. — Preparations for the war 
by both sides now went on apace. Hundreds of men who 
up to this time remained loyal to the Union, felt themselves 
driven into the secession movement by the unfortunate affair 
at Camp Jackson. Among those who identified themselves 
with this movement was Sterling Price, who had been Gover- 
nor of the State from 1853 to 1857, and who had reflected 
great glory upon Missouri in the Mexican War. He now 
offered his sword to Governor Jackson to fight for what he 
declared to be in defense of the State. He was appointed 
major-general of the Missouri State Guard. The State was 
divided into eight military districts and over each was ap- 
pointed a brigadier-general to organize and drill the militia. 
For this purpose Governor Jackson appointed A. W. Doni- 
phan, Monroe M. Parsons, James S. Rains, John B. Clark, 
Thomas A. Harris, Nathaniel W. Watkins, A. E. Steen, W. Y. 



THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 135 

Slack and James H. McBrlde; Colonel Doniphan, however, 
refused to accept the appointment, but remained steadfast in 
his allegiance to the Union, yet took no part in the war. 

165. Indorsed by Harney. — General Harney had in the 
meantime returned to St. Louis. He deemed the attack on 
Camp Jackson as proper and just, and said two of the streets 
of the camp were called Davis and Beauregard, after Jefferson 
Davis and the general who had led the attack on Fort Sum- 
ter, and that soldiers therein had openly worn the dress and 
badge of Confederate soldiers. He issued a proclamation on 
the fourteenth of May in which he declared: "No Govern- 
ment in the world would be entitled to respect that would, for 
a moment, tolerate such openly treasonable preparations," 
and announced that the whole power of the United States 
would be employed, if necessary, to maintain its authority as 
"the supreme law of the land." Beyond this he wished only 
to preserve the general peace and to protect all loyal citizens 
from violence of any kind. On the seventeenth of May he 
asked the War Department for ten thousand guns, and that 
nine thousand men should be furnished him by Iowa and 
Minnesota. 

166. Price-Harney Agreement. — While these prepara- 
tions for war were going on, conservative men appealed to 
Harney and Price to preserve the peace and agree upon a 
plan of neutrality; General Harney accordingly sent an invi- 
tation to General Price to meet him for the purpose of forrn- 
ing such an agreement, which Price, with Governor Jackson's 
approval, readily accepted. The Price-Harney agreement 
was formed, wherein each avowed it was his purpose "to 
restore peace and good order," and Price was to be intrusted 
with the duty of keeping order in the State, subject to the 
laws of the Federal and State governments. If this were 
done the people were assured by Harney that he would have 
no occasion, as he had no wish, "to make military movements 
in the State which might create jealousies or excitement." 



136 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

In accordance with this agreement, Price dismissed the troops 
at Jefferson City. But because the agreement, which Harney 
said produced a good effect throughout the State, did not 
include that all military organizations should cease and the 
militia be dispersed, this action of Harney's gave great offense 
to Blair and Lyon, who at once determined upon his removal. 
Accordingly, O. D, Filley, as a member of the St. Louis 
"Safety Committee," which had all along supported Lyon 
and Blair, sent out a circular letter to every part of the State 
asking that full and detailed reports be sent in of all offensive 
treatment of loyal Union men by the secession element. 
These reports were very voluminous. They were forwarded to 
President Lincoln, who sincerely believed them, but Harney 
did not, but declared that Price was faithfully carrying out his 
part of the agreement. The President thought these "outrages 
should be stopped," and therefore relieved Harney, and put 
General Lyon in command. 

167. War Declared. — General Lyon was no longer 
impeded by a conservative superior officer, but left free to 
pursue any course he pleased. Both sides began at once to 
again make active preparations for the war. But before 
much had been done William A. Hall and other honorable 
citizens made another effort to prevent a conflict, and per- 
suaded Governor Jackson to ask an interview with General 
Lyon "for the purpose of effecting a pacific solution of the 
troubles of Missouri." Lyon regarded Governor Jackson as a 
traitor, but if he should come to St. Louis for this purpose, 
Lyon promised that he would not arrest him while there or on 
his way back to the capital. Accordingly the interview took 
place at the Planters' House, St. Louis, on the eleventh of 
June. The Governor was accompanied by General Price and 
Thomas L. Snead, who appeared for the State, while Lyon, 
Blair and Major Conant represented the Federal Govern- 
ment. General Lyon led the conference for his side, which 
lasted for four or five hours. In a proclamation which the 



THE ARSENAL AND CAMP JACKSON. 137 

Governor published next day he declared that in this inter- 
view he had proposed to Lyon and Blair: "That I would dis- 
band the State Guard and break up its organization; that I 
would disarm all the companies which had been armed by the 
State; that I would pledge myself not to attempt to organize 
the militia under the Military Bill; that no arms or other 
munitions of war should be brought into the State; that I 
would protect all citizens equally in all their rights, regardless 
of their political opinions; that I would suppress all insurrec- 
tionary movements within the State; that I would repel all 
attempts to invade it from whatever quarter and by whom- 
soever made; and that I would thus maintain a strict neutral- 
ity in the present unhappy contest, and preserve the peace of 
the State." This was a clear abandonment of secession by the 
Governor, but the proposition was made upon the condition 
that the Federal Government would undertake to disarm the 
volunteer soldiers called the Home Guards, and would pledge 
itself not to occupy with its troops any locality in the State 
not occupied by them at that time. Finally, when this prop- 
osition had been fully discussed (till all present understood 
it), Lyon suddenly broke up the conference by this reply: 
"Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to 
demand that my Government shall not enlist troops within 
her limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it pleases, 
or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the 
State; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one 
instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter 
however unimportant, I would see you and every man, 
woman and child in the State dead and buried;" and, turning 
to the Governor, he said: "This means war; in an hour one of 
my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines." 
And it did mean war. Men who had known and loved each 
other for years now bade farewell and turned away, a part 
to fight for the Union, the other part for the State. 



138 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Questions on Chapter XIII. 

1. What is said of the arsenal near St. Louis and Jackson's attempt 

to gain possession of it? (156) 

2. Describe Captain Lyon. (157) 

3. What had he to say of Mr. Lincoln? (157) 

4. What did he foresee from the Kansas troubles? (157) 

5. What did he and Blair determine on? (157) 

6. What call did Mr. Lincoln make? (158) 

7. What was Jackson's reply? (158) 

8. How did Blair and Lyon regard this reply? (158) 

9. What other bad report did they hear? (158) 

10. What is said of Liberty arsenal? (159) 

11. What conflict between Harney and Lyon had occurred? (160) 

12. Describe Lyon's conduct on May 9. (161) 

13. What did Frost do on the morning of the tenth? (161) 

14. Describe the attack on Camp Jackson. (162) 

15. What was the purpose of the attack on Camp Jackson? (163) 

16. How did it prove to be a blunder? (163) - 

17. What were some of its effects? (164) 

18. Who was pTaced in command of the State Guard? (164) 

19. How did Harney regard the attack on Camp Jackson? (165) 

20. What was the Price-Harney agreement? (166) 

21. How did Price begin to carry it out? (166) 

22. What did Harney say of it? (166) 

23. How did the Safety Committee break it down? (166) 

24. What was the result on Harney? (166) 

25. What further efforts at peace were made? (167) 

26. Describe the interview between Lyon and JacksOn. (167) 

27. What did Jackson propose? (167) 

28. Upon what condition were these propositions made? (167) 

29. Was Lyon willing to concede to the State the right to dictate 

to the Federal Government? (167) 

30. What did he say? (167) What did that mean? (167) 



BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 139 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 

168. Hasty Movements. — Jackson and Price hastened 
to Jefferson City immediately after the conference with 
Lyon, arriving there at two o'clock at night. Before day- 
light the Governor had issued his proclamation, setting forth 
in full the propositions of the conference, and asking for fifty 
thousand volunteers, "for the purpose," he said, ''of repelling 
the attack that had been made on the State and for the pro- 
tection of the lives, liberties and property of her citizens." 
He also sent orders to the commanders of the different mili- 
tary districts (mentioned in section 164), to assemble their 
men and prepare for active service. On the next day he and 
Price and the. State officers, with the State papers, hastily set 
out for Boonville, General Price having previously caused the 
railroad bridges over the Osage and Gasconade to be de- 
stroyed so as to prevent Lyon's approach by rail, and directed 
General Parsons, who had collected a small force, to retire to 
a point along the Missouri Pacific Railroad and there await 
orders. 

169. At Boonville. — On his arrival at Boonville Jack- 
son found General John B. Clark already there with several 
hundred men. They continued to arrive during the next two 
days, and came in little squads from all around the country, 
but mostly from north of the river where Clark and Price 
were greatly beloved. But Price soon became convinced 
that it would be impossible for him to hold the river against 
the superior force of General Lyon, who was rapidly moving 
up the river. He needed time to organize an army, to train the 
troops, who knew nothing at all of a soldier's duties, and to 
furnish them with guns and ammunition. He, therefore, 
leaving Jackson and Clark behind him, hastened on to Lex- 



140 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



I 



ington. His plan was to assume command of the troops who 
had been assembHng at that point, which had been threatened 
by a large body of Kansas and national forces, and withdraw 
them to the southwest, where he hoped for time to organize, 
arm and equip them. 

170. Lyon*s Movements. — The movements of Gen- 
eral Lyon were equally active. Immediately after the con- 
ference in St. Louis with Jackson and Price, he telegraphed to 
Washington for five thousand stand of arms and authority 
to enlist more troops in Missouri. Both requests were im- 
mediately granted. He ordered Colonels Sigel, Salomon and 
B. Gratz Brown with their regiments to set out for Spring- 
field. Brigadier-General Thomas W. Sweeney was put in 
command of this expedition, and its object was to intercept 
Governor Jackson if he should attempt to retreat to Arkan- 
sas. Lyon himself took two thousand well-trained troops 
and started by boat next day for Jefferson City. He arrived 
there on the fifteenth of June, and leaving Colonel Boernstein 
and three hundred men to hold the city, he himself proceeded 
up the river. When within eight miles of Boonville, he 
landed most of his men, and caused the boats to move on past 
the city with the rest, in order to deceive Jackson as to his 
real purpose. 

171. Battle of Boonville. — The battle of Boonville was 
fought on Monday, June 17th, between Colonel Marmaduke 
with less than five hundred men, and General Lyon with over 
three times that number. The engagement was sharp and 
was kept up for some time. It took place one mile east of 
the city and resulted in routing Marmaduke, with two men 
killed and five slightly wounded. Lyon s loss was two men 
killed and nine wounded. Jackson was now obliged to beat 
a hasty retreat to the southwest, which he did with his entire 
force, inciuding General Parsons, who had joined him at 
Boonville on the very day of the fight with Lyon. Lyon 
remained at Boonville two weeks waiting for his supplies, 



BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 141 

and thoroughly discouraging any secession movements by 
his very presence. 

172. Discouraging Effects. — This battle of Boonville, 
trifling as it may appear from the amount of fighting done, 
proved to be perhaps the most important to the Union cause 
fought in Missouri during the entire war. It was the first 
real fight between the State and Union forces and the Union 
had won. It was fought, on the part of the State, by volun- 
teers alone. When these were defeated it almost put a stop 
to volunteer enlistments in Price's army. The ardor of the 
Southern sympathizers had led them to believe that Jack- 
son's forces would gain this battle. When he failed they were 
so discouraged and calmed that they quietly submitted. All 
North Missouri was now in complete subjection. At Lexing- 
ton Price was threatened with a force of 2500 rrten from 
Kansas under Major Sturgis. He therefore ordered his 
troops to proceed southward under command of General 
Rains to join Jackson, and set out himself for Arkansas to 
induce General Ben McCulloch with a large Confederate 
army to enter the State and assist in driving Lyon from it. 

173. The Battle of Carthage. — Jackson retreated south- 
ward rapidly. His force consisted of between six and seven 
thousand men, badly organized and poorly supplied with 
arms and ammunition. At Lamar he was joined by Rains, 
and as he approached Carthage he suddenly found Colonel 
Sigel in his front, with about a thousand well-armed men. 
On July 5th a line of battle was drawn on a ridge which gently 
inclined towards Coon Creek, about twelve miles from Car- 
thage. About 2600 infantry armed with shotguns and rifles, 
and 1500 mounted men similarly armed, took part in the 
fight on the part of the State troops. Sigel opened the fight 
with a steady fire of shot, grape and shell. It was kept up 
for about an hour, when about two thousand of Jackson's 
unarmed men were ordered to take shelter in the skirting of 
woods on his right. Sigel did not know they were unarmed, 



142 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

but supposed they were ordered to attack him in the rear, and 
withdrew his men in good order beyond the creek. There 
he left Essig's battery and five companies of infantry to prevent 
the State troops from crossing. When the troops got within 
four hundred yards of the ford they were met by the well- 
directed shots from Essig's battery. Here the hottest fighting 
of the day followed. But Generals Clark and Parsons man- 
aged to cross at another ford, and were about to cut off any 
possibility of Essig's escape. He therefore fell back to the 
main body of Sigel's army, which continued its retreat on to 
Sarcoxie, twenty miles away. Sigel's loss was thirteen killed 
and thirty-one wounded. Jackson's loss was ten killed and 
sixty-four wounded. The losses on each side have often been 
erroneously reported to be three or four hundred. 

174. Lyon's Course. — We left General Lyon at Boon- 
ville. He remained there two weeks and then set out to 
run Jackson down, give him battle and compel him to sur- 
render or drive him from the State. He arrived within 
twelve miles of Springfield on July 12th, and "accompanied by 
a body-guard of ten stalwart troopers for his especial escort, 
he dashed through the streets of the city on his iron-grey 
horse, his bearded warriors being mounted on powerful chargers 
and armed to the teeth with great revolvers and massive 
swords." The next day he telegraphed to headquarters that 
Governor Jackson was in that vicinity with not less than 
thirty thousand men, and asked for ten thousand additional 
troops. As a matter of fact Jackson had on the previous 
day left for Arkansas, and the entire combined force of Lyon's 
foes did not at any time amount to over fifteen thousand men, 
armed and unarmed. 

175. Organization of Price's Army. — Lyon's two weeks' 
delay at Boonville proved invaluable to Price. Price had 
been successful in inducing McCulloch to cross the border 
with several regiments of Confederates and Arkansas troops, 
but without waiting for them he hastened back to Missouri 



BOONVILLE, CARTHAGE AND COWSKIN PRAIRIE. 143 

to organize his own army. On July 12th he led his troops 
toward Cowskin Prairie, in McDonald County, and there had 
a breathing spell, and began at once a systematic organiza- 
tion of his army and energetic preparations for an active cam- 
paign. He had few arms or military supplies of any kind 
and no money with which to procure them. But he needed 
no money to pay the men. They never expected any pay, 
had never been promised any, but had volunteered their 
services to fight for the State and to help the Governor main- 
tain its dignity and himself at its head as its rightful executive, 
as they believed. They were intelligent men; such men im- 
bued with the spirit and purposes which actuated them can 
always devise munitions of war. Governor Jackson on leaving 
the capital had brought along a supply of powder. The lead 
was taken from the Granby mines near by. - One of the officers, 
Major Thomas H. Price, devised from the trunks of large 
trees monster molds for buckshot and bullets. The work of 
organizing and equipping the State Guard thus went on apace, 
and by the end of July it was ready to take the field with an 
effective force of five thousand men armed with hunting rifles, 
shotguns, a few cannons and a few army guns, while two thou- 
sand more unarmed men were waiting to pick up the guns of 
those who might be stricken in battle or by disease. 

Questions on Chapter XIV. 

1. What did Jackson do on his arrival at Jefferson City? (168) 

2. How did Price try to impede Lyon's movements? (168) 

3. What other preparations for a campaign were made? (169) 

4. Describe Lyon's movements. (170) 

5. Describe the battle of Boonville. (171) 

6. What is said of the importance of this fight? (172) 

7. Detail the incidents of the battle of Carthage. (173) 

8. What was Lyon's next movement? (174) 

9. What telegram did he send from Springfield? (174) 

10. Describe Price's movements and the organization of his army. 
(175) 



144 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 

176. Forward Movements. — On the twenty-eighth 
and twenty-ninth of July General Price, with a force of 5,000 
armed and 2,000 unarmed Missourians, General McCulloch 
with a brigade of 3200 well-armed Confederates, and General 
Pearce with 2500 Arkansas troops, in all nearly thirteen 
thousand men, began to unite their forces near Cassville, 
fifty-two miles southwest of Springfield. On the thirty-first 
they started for that city. Lyon learned of the m.ovement 
next day, but was led to believe they were marching upon the 
city by separate routes. He determined therefore to attack 
them in detail and started the same day to meet the force 
advancing from Cassville. He went twenty-four miles in 
that direction, but being unable to learn anything about the 
army in front of him, which was, in fact, the entire forces of 
Pearce, Price and McCulloch, and fearful that they, with 
their larger force, would flank him and cut off all communica- 
tion with Springfield, on Monday, August 3rd, he returned 
thither. By this time McCulloch had pretty well lost con- 
fidence in "the undisciplined" Missouri troops, and in order 
to pacify him General Price, who was a far abler general, 
yielded to him the chief command. McCulloch followed 
Lyon toward Springfield to Wilson's Creek, about nine miles 
southwest. Here he camped in a considerable valley, within 
reach of some ripening cornfields, which were to be the only 
subsistence of his army for the next day or two. Near the 
ford across this creek the valley was narrow, and toward the 
west was a hill gradually rising from the creek to a height of 
nearly one hundred feet, and covered with undergrowth and 
scrub-oak trees. This hill has since been known as "Bloody 
Hill," and here on Saturday, August 10th, 1861, was fought the 
bloody battle of Wilson's Creek. 



THE BATTLE OP WILSON'S CREEK. 145 

177. The Battle. — Friday, August 9th, Lyon ordered 
Sigel to set out late in the afternoon with his entire force of 
twelve hundred men, turn McCuUoch's right flank and attack 
him in the rear. He himself set out with four thousand two 
hundred men. About midnight he halted within two miles 
of Bloody Hill, and the next morning at dawn started for that 
point. At five o'clock he came in contact with the advance 
State forces under Hunter, which fell back over the brow of 
Bloody Hill. As they did so, Lyon opened on them with his 
cannon, and immediately Sigel, who had completely gained 
McCulloch's right, responded with his guns upon the eastern 
outposts. McCuUoch hastened off to meet Sigel, and Price 
to engage Lyon. Price's and Lyon's forces formed within 
three hundred yards of each other, but the undergrowth kept 
them entirely concealed. Price deployed 3100 men under 
Generals Clark, Parsons and McBride along the eastern de- 
clivity; Lyon, leaving the rest of his men for reserve, took 
1900 of them and formed along the western side, his under- 
officers being the afterwards-famous Generals Schofield, Tot- 
ten, Sturgis, Granger, Elliott, and Osterhaus. Price waited 
for Lyon to make the attack. This he did soon after six 
o'clock. "Forward" rang along the lines and was plainly 
heard by both sides. Then followed the crackling of the 
brush through which Lyon's men were advancing, then the 
sharp click of a thousand rifles, the reply of a thousand shot- 
guns and the roar of the cannon. The battle raged for five 
hours with desperate fury. "The Hnes approached again and 
again within less than fifty yards of each other, and then, 
after delivering a deadly fire, each would fall back a few 
paces to re-form and re-load, only to advance again to this 
strange battle in the woods." Frequently the deepest si- 
lence would fall upon the men after one of these charges. 
The two armies were grappling in a death struggle for Mis- 
souri. 

10 



146 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

About nine o'clock Sigel had been completely routed with 
very little hard fighting and was in full retreat to Spring- 
field. His men had taken instant flight on the dashing on- 
slaught of the Third Louisiana Regiment, which they took for 
Iowa friends. Throwing themselves into the brush, which 
lined both sides of the road, they became separated. Sigel 
and Salomon, with about two hundred Germans, and Carr's 
company of cavalry, started for Springfield, but were sud- 
denly set upon by Colonel Major, with some mounted Mis- 
sourians and Texans. The Germans being abandoned by 
Carr, were nearly all either killed, wounded, or captured. 
Sigel reached Springfield with only one man. 

The entire Confederate force, after the defeat of Sigel, 
was ordered to assist Price in his conflict with Lyon. Seeing 
all this army concentrating before him, Lyon determined to 
dash upon Price with all his might and crush him to the 
ground before these gathering forces could come to his relief. 
Then followed the hottest fight of the day. "The engage- 
ment at- once became general and desperately fierce along the 
entire line. Price's men appearing in front, often in three or 
four ranks, lying down, kneeling and standing, and the lines 
often approaching within thirty or forty yards of each other." 
Riding along in front of his men, now broken and weary by 
the long night-march and four hours' hard fighting, 'the in- 
trepid Lyon encouraged them to make one more effort to win 
the day. Suddenly his horse was shot from under him, and 
he himself was w^ounded in the head and in the leg. He was 
stunned for the moment, and was heard to confusedly say he 
feared the day was lost. Then recovering himself, he mount- 
ed another horse and rode gallantly along the lines, waving 
his hat and urging his men to follow. The soldiers instantly 
closed around him, and together they dashed into the fight. 
The next moment a ball had pierced Lyon's breast and he 
was dead. The command fell on Major Sturgis, who ordered 
retreat. The Union forces moved away in perfect order 



THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 147 

from the field for which they had fought so bravely and so 
long. 

178. The Results of the Battle.— Of the 5400 Union 
men who took part in the fight, 1317 officers and men were 
killed, wounded or missing. General Lyon, every brigadier- 
general and every colonel engaged on Bloody Hill were either 
killed or wounded, so that the army was led off by a major. 
The total loss of the Confederate and State troops was 1230 
killed and wounded, out of 10,000 men who in some way 
took part in the battle. Colonels Weigh tman, Cawthorn and 
Ben Brown were killed; Foster, Kelly and Burbridge were dis- 
abled; Generals Slack, Clark and Price were wounded. The 
total number wounded, killed and missing on both sides was 
2547, or sixteen per cent. Of the 7700 men who took part in 
the battle on Bloody Hill, on both sides, 1880, or about 
twenty-five per cent were killed or wounded. Old soldiers 
who took part in the battle have frequently corroborated 
each other in stating that on one acre of the field where the 
battle was fiercest, at least half the surface was covered with 
dead or dying men. 

179. The Retreat. — Lyon's army had been completely 
defeated. It was now at the mercy of Price and McCulloch 
if they chose to pursue. It had an immense and richly-laden 
wagon train and other spoils valued at one million five hun- 
dred thousand dollars. These it undertook to conduct safely 
to Rolla. Its adversaries had come out of the battle with 
three or four thousand men who had scarcely fired a gun. 
Beside, the battle gave them plenty of arms and ammuni- 
tion. They could also have had this immense army train, 
and thereby supplies for their army for months. But Mc- 
Culloch refused to follow up the victory and take easy pos- 
session of the fruit which the rules of war made his. He was 
a Confederate officer in command of a Confederate army. He 
had been stationed in Arkansas for the defense of that State 
and the Indian Territory. His duty was to defend, not to 



148: HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

attack. Missouri was yet in the Union. He had no author- 
ity to attack a loyal State. He had repelled Lyon's intended 
invasion of Arkansas and Indian Territory, and having suc- 
ceeded he now conceived it his duty to withdraw from Mis- 
souri. In vain did Price beg him to lead the forces against 
the retreating Union army. To have done so would have 
been to retake the State within sixty days. Price was unable 
to accomplish this movement with his forces alone, and 
before he could undertake it the Union army had increased to 
many times larger than his own. Sturgis made the trip to 
Rolla in peace, and Price was never afterwards able to make 
any headway against the overwhelming Union forces that 
now poured into the State. 

Questions on Chapter XV. 

1. What were the Confederate and State forces at the close of July 

and who were in command? (176) 

2. What did Lyon hear and do? (176) 

3. How did McCulloch happen to be in command? (176) 

4. To what place did McCulloch follow Lyon? (176) 

5. What movement did Lyon and Sigel make on August 9? (17 )] 

6. Describe the arrangement of troops on both sides. (177) 

7. Describe the battle on Bloody Hill. (177) 

8. What success had Sigel had? (177) 

9. What further is said of the fight on Bloody Hill? (177) 

10. What were some of the results of the battle? (178) 

11. What is said of the retreat? (179) 

12. What was the result of failure to follow up the victory? (179) 



THE LAST MONTHS OP 1861. 149 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE LAST MONTHS OF 1861. 

180. Actions of the Convention. — The second meet- 
ing of the Convention, which, instead of dissolving after its 
March session, had only taken a recess to reconvene at the 
call of its executive committee, was begun in Jefferson City 
on July 22nd. Its former president, Ex-Governor Price, had 
accepted the position of major-general of the State troops, 
and his seat was declared vacant because of that fact. Rob- 
ert Wilson, of Buchanan County, was elected president in his 
stead. The Convention then entered upon some extraordi- 
nary proceedings. On July 30th it declared the office of Gov- 
ernor vacant and elected one of its own members, Hamilton 
R. Gamble, of St. Louis, Governor in Jackson's place. It de- 
clared the office of Lieutenant-Governor vacant and elected 
Willard P. Hall, of St. Joseph, in Mr. Reynolds's stead. It 
went further and declared the offices of the members of the 
Legislature vacant and agreed upon a time for electing their 
successors. Before that time had arrived the election was 
postponed, by subsequent sessions, till November, 1862, and 
before an election was held at all, it passed laws prescribing 
that no person should be allowed to vote who did not indorse 
the actions of the Convention. It went still further and 
began to perform the powers of the General Assembly, and 
these powers it exercised for seventeen months before giving 
the people a chance to elect a new Legislature in place of the 
one whose powers it had assumed, and not till 1864 did it per- 
mit the people to elect a Governor in Jackson's stead, al- 
though the Constitution plainly required that in case of a 
vacancy in the office of Governor an election should be held 
to fill it. These acts of the Convention have usually been 
excused on the ground of military necessity. That the great 



150 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

mass of the people quietly submitted to such a change, was 
positive proof that they realized the State was now in the 
midst of a great war, which required the exercise of new and 
extraordinary powers by this body which assumed to act for 
the State; and whether they approved of the course of the 
Convention or not as being the best policy, it remains true 
that nearly all its members were conservative, loyal men, 
who at all times had in mind only to secure peace and keep 
the State in the Union. As soon as it was certain that the 
destiny of the State would be safely Union in the hands of a 
new Legislature, the Convention laid down its assumed 
powers and permitted the Legislature to exercise them as it 
had done in former days. 

181. Battle of Lexington.— After the battle of Wil- 
son's Creek, General McCulloch withdrew to Indian Ter- 
ritory, General Pearce took his troops back to Arkansas, and 
General Price started north for the Missouri river. On the 
thirteenth of September his forces drew up in front of Lex- 
ington, and on the eighteenth began besieging the place. 
The Union troops were well intrenched behind good embank- 
ments on Masonic College Hill, the present location of Cen- 
tral College for Women. General James A. Mulligan was in 
command with about one thousand five hundred Missouri- 
ans and an equal number of Illinois troops. General Price's 
men numbered about seven thousand fit for service. They 
made movable breastworks of bales of hemp, under shelter 
of which they approached within thirty yards of Mulligan's 
works. The siege was kept up for fifty-two hours. Then 
Mulligan surrendered. According to General Price, the 
fruits of this victory were three thousand prisoners, five 
pieces of artillery, over three thousand stand of arms, seven 
hundred and fifty horses, about one hundred thousand dol- 
lars worth of commissary stores and a large amount of other 
property. He also obtained the restoration of ''nine hundred 
thousand dollars in money which had been taken from a 



THE LAST MONTHS OF 1861. 151 

bank In the city." During the siege both armies underwent 
great hardships. When it first began, thousands of Price's 
troops, who had not slept or eaten for thirty-six hours, fought 
desperately all day. When Mulligan surrendered, his men 
were entirely out of water, and all they had had during a 
great part of the siege had been obtained by catching the 
water of a slight rain in their blankets and then wringing them 
in buckets. A week later Price abandoned Lexington and 
started southward. 

182. The Secession Legislature. — ^While General Price 
was at Lexington, Governor Jackson issued a call from that 
place for the General Assembly to meet on October 21st 
at Neosho, in the southwest corner of the State, where it could 
be under the shelter of Price's army. Just how many mem- 
bers were present is not known, for the records of its pro- 
ceedings do not state. Perhaps not a quorum of either house. 
If this were true, its actions could not be binding upon the 
State. Yet it is true that it passed a secession act by which 
it declared Missouri withdrawn from the Union. It elected 
John B. Clark, Sr., and R. L. Y. Peyton to the Confederate 
Senate at Richmond, Virginia, and eight other gentlemen to 
the House. For purposes of its own the Confederacy chose 
to recognize these acts of the Legislature as legal, and ad- 
mitted Missouri into the Confederacy. There can be no 
doubt that many of the people indorsed the action of this 
Legislature. In fact, ever since the attack on Camp Jack- 
son, public sentiment had been growing for secession. But 
the Convention, which some months before this declared va- 
cant the seats of the members of the Legislature, still exer- 
cised the powers of that body and was sustained by the strong 
hand of military power. In its subsequent dealings with the 
State, Congress chose to recognize the Convention as being 
the only power that could take Missouri out of the Union. 
Consequently the State never seceded. But after this "Seces- 
sion Act" the organization of the State Guard ceased, and 



152 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

all those who "went south" and joined the Confederate army 
were known as Confederates, although it was more than three 
months after this before any of them ever saw a Confederate 
flag. Soon after this Governor Jackson went south and re- 
mained out of the State most of the time till his death, which 
occurred at Little Rock, December 6, 1862. From that time 
on Thomas C. Reynolds, the Lieutenant-Governor, acted in 
Jackson's stead till the people elected Thos. C. Fletcher Gov- 
ernor, in 1864. Of course the power he exercised was lim- 
ited, and was in dispute of the right of Gamble to act as 
Governor of the State. He appointed members to the Con- 
federate Congress, both House and Senate, and made a few 
other like appointments, but aside from this he was Governor 
only in name. 

Questions on Chapter XVI. 

1. When did the convention again meet? (180) 

2. Whom did it elect president? (180) 

3. What did it do about the office of Governor? (180) 

4. What did it do as to all other offices? (180) 

5. What powers did it assume? (180) 

6. On what ground have these acts usually been excused; (180) 

7. Describe the battle of Lexington? (181) 

8. Where did the remnant of the Legislature convene? (182) 

9. What is said of it? (182) 

10. Did Missouri secede? (182) Why not? (182) 

11. What were the troops now called? (182) 

12. What became of Jackson? (182) 

13. What about Reynolds? (182) 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 153 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FROM 1862 TO 1864. 

183. Order No. 24. — The war had produced local dis- 
turbances in nearly every county in the State, and in some 
localities neither life nor property was safe. But in St. Louis 
everything was orderly and the Union forces there were in 
full control. For this reason many avowed supporters of 
the Union cause had taken refuge in the city. General Hal- 
leck of the Union army, on December 12th, issued "Order No. 
24," making assessments on certain wealthy citizens of the 
city, who favored the cause of Governor Jackson or of the 
Confederacy, by which they were required to contribute 
money for the support of these refugees. Some of these 
citizens refused to pay the assessments and their property 
was seized by force. Samuel Engler, a prominent merchant, 
did not approve of this summary way of taking away his prop- 
erty, and attempted to recover it by suit in the court. For so 
doing he and his lawyer were arrested and lodged in a mili- 
tary prison. After this the assessments were generally paid. 
This method of raising funds was repeated during the next 
few years by the various little commands stationed at differ- 
ent points in the State and great sums of money were thus 
obtained. 

184. Battle of Pea Ridge. — General Halleck had win- 
tered a large part of his army in and around Lebanon, Laclede 
County, while General Price remained around Springfield. 
On February 11, 1862, this part of the army, under command 
of General Curtis, moved out upon Price, who fell back to- 
wards Cassville, then across the State line into Arkansas, 
where he was joined by General McCuUoch and General 
Albert Pike with a large number of Indians and white troops 
from Indian Territory. These, added to Price's eight thou- 



154 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

sand Missourians, made an army of nearly twenty thousand 
men, and the whole was placed under the command of General 
Van Dorn, a daring officer. Curtis, with perhaps a less num- 
ber of troops, followed Price at some distance and encamped 
near Pea Ridge, a little place only a few miles over the line in 
Arkansas and about thirty miles from Cassville. Here, early 
in the morning of March 6, 1862, he was vigorously attacked 
by Van Dorn, and a bloody battle followed, which was skill- 
fully and desperately fought on both sides. It lasted for three 
days, with everchanging fortunes to the opposing forces. At 
one time it seemed that the Union cause would win, then the 
opposition, then again the Union. On the third day victory 
perched on the Federal banner, and the Confederates retreated. 
The Union loss was one thousand three hundred and fifty-one 
killed, wounded and missing. The Confederate loss was 
about the same. General McCulloch was killed, so was Gen- 
eral W. Y. Slack of Missouri, and General Price was wounded 
in the arm. 

185. Price Joins the Confederacy. — One month after 
the battle of Pea Ridge General Price published an order in 
which he bade farewell to the State Guard. Shortly after- 
ward he was transferred to the east side of the Mississippi 
with about five thousand State troops, who had followed him 
into the Confederacy, and from this time on they were known 
as Confederate troops. They were from time to time joined 
by other Missourians, but it is not likely that the number 
ever exceeded ten thousand men. Of their subsequent career 
it is not proper here to speak. Suffice it to say that this band 
of men fought on till the ninth of April, 1865, and on that 
day, the very one on which Lee surrendered, their number 
now reduced to four hundred, they fired their last gun at 
Fort Blakely on the Gulf of Mexico. 

186. State Militia. — The State Convention, which held 
its third session in October, 1861, had also passed a Military 
Bill, not greatly unlike the Military Bill passed by the General 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 155 

Assembly in May, which had been urged by Lyon and the 
Convention as one cause for attacking Camp Jackson. This 
bill provided for the organization of the supporters of the 
Convention and the Union cause throughout the State, under 
the name 'of the "Missouri State Militia." Companies of 
these were enlisted in nearly every county, and among the 
prominent officers thereof, who were then or have since been 
prominent citizens of the State, were Colonel John F. Philips of 
Pettis, Colonel T. T. Crittenden of Johnson, Major A. W. 
Mullins of Linn, Colonel John F. WiUiams of Macon, and 
General Odon Guitar of Boone. 

187. Missourians in Opposing Companies. — Early m 
April General Halleck set out for Corinth, Mississippi, and 
left General Schofield in command in Missouri. Governor 
Gamble appointed him Brigadier-General of Missouri State 
Militia, with power to call as much of it into active service as 
might be required to put down all marauders. Confederate 
companies for opposing these were also organized, and as a 
result most of the battles and skirmishes thereafter took 
place between these opposing companies of Missouri citizens. 
There were many of them, but they were mostly small skir- 
mishes, and to properly describe them would require a large 
volume. They engendered much strife among the people, 
disturbed all kinds of business, broke up churches and the 
schools, and drove many peaceably inclined or defenseless 
persons from the State, and others were ruthlessly shot 
down and robbed. 

188. The Sacking of Lawrence. — That a rank growth 
of general freebooting should have sprung up along the bor- 
der in both Missouri and Kansas was to be expected from the 
lawless state of affairs which has been recounted under the 
head of "Kansas Troubles." The war opened a wider field 
for spoliation. Early in the struggle appeared a band of 
"jayhawkers," known as "Red Legs," because they wore red 
morocco leggings. The band was originally devoted to horse 



156 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

stealing, but became flexible enough to include rascals of 
every kind. At intervals the band would dash into Missouri, 
seize horses and cattle, commit other and worse outrages, 
then return with their booty to Lawrence and sell it at public 
auction. They did not hesitate to shoot people who objected 
to their acts or inquired into their doings. Mr. Spring, an 
honorable Kansas historian, says: "The gang contained men 
of the most desperate and hardened character, and a full re- 
cital of their deeds would sound like a biography of devils." 
The people of Lawrence could not drive them out or put a 
stop to their maraudings, and so their course of robbery, 
rapine and murder went on. The depredations of these men, 
the campaign of Lane into Missouri some time before, and 
the troubles dating back to 1854, led to the awful destruction 
of Lawrence on August 21, 1863. Quantrill, who led the raid, 
once lived in Lawrence — "a dull, sullen, uninteresting knave" 
■ — and, just as the war began, fled from the town to Missouri 
to escape arrest for crime. He now returned at the head 
of a band of Missouri bushrangers. They rode quietly into 
Kansas, traveled forty miles the night before the massacre 
and reached Lawrence at daybreak, one hundred and seventy- 
five strong. Armed with revolvers, they were commanded 
to "kill every man and burn every house." With a wild 
cry, like that of savage Indians, they dashed through the 
sleeping and defenseless town, killing men indiscriminately, 
but especially butchering all Red Legs to be found. In 
the meantime they shouted: "We are here for revenge, and 
we have got it!" Stores, banks, hotels and dwellings they 
robbed and then set them on fire, and of the dead one hundred 
and eighty-three were counted ; and from this sickening scene — 
the town in flames, the principal streets lined with corpses, 
many of them charred and blackened — the guerrillas galloped 
away, easily evading Major (late Senator) Plumb with two 
hundred and fifty Union troops, whom they passed on the 
way, and escaped. "Order No. 11" was four days later 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 157 

issued for the purpose of taking reprisals for this raid on Law- 
rence and making it impossible for such men to live in border 
counties. 

189. Order No. 11.— On August 25, 1863, General 
Thomas Ewing, of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry Volunteers, 
issued from his headquarters at Kansas City an order which 
has become famous as "Order No. 11," and which shows the 
biting misery the people then had to endure on account of 
the fratricidal war which was being carried on, not by great 
generals and brave soldiers in open and honorable battle, but 
by roving bands of guerrillas of both armies, whose purpose 
was to murder, rob and despoil, almost as much as to main- 
tain the authority of the Union or establish the authority of 
the Confederacy. Order No. 11 commanded all persons then 
living in the counties of Cass, Jackson and Bates, except 
those living in the principal towns, to remove from their 
places of abode within fifteen days. All persons who could 
show to the nearest military commander that they were loyal 
citizens were permitted to move to the military stations or to 
Kansas. All other persons were to move entirely out of these 
counties. Their grain and hay were to be taken to the near- 
est military station, where the owners were granted certifi- 
cates showing their value, and all produce not so delivered 
was to be destroyed. The military commanders were di- 
rected to see this order was promptly obeyed, and they did 
so with dire earnestness. The whole district soon presented 
a scene of desolation rarely equaled. Cass was almost wholly 
depopulated. Of its ten thousand inhabitants only about 
six hundred remained in the count}^ and these were gathered 
at the military stations of Harrisonville and Pleasant Hill. 
There was also an immense destruction of property. Imme- 
diately after the close of the war it was estimated that at 
least one-third of the houses had been burned and one-half 
of the farms laid waste. In Bates results were still worse. 
Within fifteen days nearly every inhabitant had crossed its 



158 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

border, and for three years its history was a blank. During 
these years the prairie fires swept over the land, adding to the 
desolation, and when, in 1866, the older inhabitants returned, 
not a vestige of their old homes was left save the blackened 
chimneys rising above the rank weeds. For these reasons 
these counties were, for a score of years, known as "The 
Burnt District." A member of General Ewing's staff was 
Colonel George C. Bingham, who opposed-the issuing of this 
order, and begged Ewing not to issue it. When Ewing per- 
sisted, he became defiant and told him if he did so he would 
make him "infamous." Being one of the finest artists in the 
State, after the war closed he painted "Order No. 11." The 
painting became very celebrated, was copied, and can to this 
day be found in some Missouri homes. But as soil can not be 
destroyed, after the unhappy conflict had closed, many old 
soldiers from each army settled in these counties, and today 
they are among the most prosperous in the State. 

190. Price's Raid. — General Price, since the battle 
of Pea Ridge, had been in Arkansas and the South. Early in 
September, 1864, he started upon a bold dash through the 
State, which has been known as "Price's Raid." He entered 
southeastern Missouri with a large force. At Pilot Knob he 
met General H. S. Ewing with twelve hundred men, who 
gallantly held his position for a time, then spiked his guns, 
blew up his magazine, and retreated to Rolla to join his forces 
with General McNeil's. His loss had been about ten men, 
while Price's had been several times that number. In fact, 
he had thwarted Price's intention of advancing upon and 
seizing St. Louis before sufficient forces could be Concentrated 
there to defend it. His stubborn opposition demoralized 
Price's plans of advancement, and delayed him for several 
days, and during that time about twenty thousand troops 
from Illinois and nearby points in Missouri poured into the 
city, and Price saw the coveted prize had passed beyond his 
reach. He accordingly marched northwest into Franklin 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 159 

County, leaving St. Louis far to his right. The Union forces 
from every part of the State were now concentrated at Jef- 
ferson City to defend the capital, and the whole was in com- 
mand of General Brown, ably reinforced by General Clinton 
B. Fisk, from north of the river, and General McNeil, from 
Rolla. Price moved rapidly in that direction, burning the 
bridges behind him so as to impede pursuit. On October 
5th he met the outposts of the Union army at the Osage River, 
under command of Major A. W. MulUns and Colonel John F. 
Philips. They gradually fell back with slight skirmishing 
as he approached. Price soon found the capital well in- 
trenched, and a large army prepared to resist any attack. 
He therefore moved onward towards Boonville and Lexing- 
ton, hotly pursued by General A. J . Smith. Soon a very heavy 
Union force, under command of General Pleasonton, was in 
pursuit of Price, whose army was now being rapidly increased 
by recruits. In Saline County he sent General Jo. 
Shelby and General John B. Clark, Jr., to attack Glasgow, on 
the opposite side of the river in Howard County, which they 
easily captured. At Little Blue Creek, in Jackson County, 
he encountered General Curtis, in command of Kansas troops, 
and a sharp contest for a few hours was waged, when Curtis 
fetl back. But on the 21st his forces were defeated at Inde- 
pendence by Pleasonton, with a loss of three or four hundred 
men in killed and wounded. For the next two days there was 
almost constant fighting south of Westport, along Brush Creefc 
and even as far east as the Big Blue. Part of the time forty 
or fifty pieces of artillery were in action at once. Price was 
being slowly driven south by the combined forces of Generals 
Pleasanton, Curtis, Rosecrans and A. J. Smith, but constantly 
protected by General Marmaduke and General Shelby's 
cavalry. Just north of Little Osage River, while trying to 
throw back these combined forces that were pressing in on 
Price's army. General Marmaduke and five or six hundred of 
his men were captured, in a dashing onrush led by Colonel 



160 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

Philips's brigade. Then Price, with Shelby's cavalry leading, 
turned with desperate fury upon the Union forces concen- 
trating upon him from north, east and west, and for hours the 
battle rolled over the wide unfenced prairies. With bewilder- 
ing rapidity the opposing forces careered hither and thither 
and fought far into the night. By repeated attacks Price 
held his lines intact until his army and long wagon-train were 
safely across and beyond Marmaton Creek in Vernon County. 
Then both armies rested. The next morning, about two 
o'clock, Price took up his retreat, and the Union armies aban- 
doned the pursuit. Price had been disappointed in the small 
number of recruits he had gathered. The number had not 
been over six thousand and the raid had accomplished nothing, 
and so he hastily retreated to Arkansas, his troops on the way 
undergoing the greatest hardships for lack of food and water. 
He entered the State no more till the war was ended. But 
during the raid he had marched 1434 miles, and engaged in 
forty-three small battles and skirmishes. 

191. Other Engagements. — The war was now over. 
But it would be a mistake to suppose because Price was out- 
side the State during the greater part of the war that there- 
fore there were peace and order. The important battles have 
been mentioned, but this was not all the war nor the greater 
part of it. According to the official records, between the 
time of the capture of the Government arsenal at Liberty, on 
April 20, 1861, and the twentieth of November, 1862— a 
period of nineteen months — over three hundred battles and 
skirmishes had been fought within the State. During the 
next two years it is estimated there were one hundred and 
fifty more, but they were relatively more destructive of life. 
So here is a total of four hundred and fifty small battles and 
skirmishes for the entire war, an average of four for every 
county in the State. North of the river these engagements 
were mostly between the State Militia or Enrolled Militia, and 
regularly enlisted Confederates who were attempting to make 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 161 

their way south to join the Confederate army. It was to pre- 
vent them in this attempt that these skirmishes were fought. 
But, nevertheless, many of them "went south," as it was then 
described, and fought on till peace was established. Most of 
them went after the battle of Pea Ridge, from which time the 
State was practically under the control of the Union author- 
ities, and no Confederate army of any consequence was in the 
State till the time of Price's raid, nearly two years and a half 
afterwards. 

192. The Number of Soldiers. — But the number of 
these men that "went south" was not as large by far as is 
usually supposed. The entire number that enlisted during 
the last three years of the war was less than twenty thou- 
sand. Add to these the ten thousand who had joined Price 
east of the Mississippi, and ten thousand for those who either 
returned -home after the battle of Pea Ridge, or had prior to 
that time served as State Guards, and the number is swelled 
to the grand total of forty thousand men, which will include 
all the soldiers that Missouri furnished to Jackson and the 
Confederate service. But the number of Union enlistments 
reached the magnificent array of 109,111 men, which was 
thirty-three thousand more than the number furnished by 
Iowa, eighty-nine thousand more than by Kansas, and three- 
fourths as many as by Massachusetts, and is an undeniable 
answer to all assertions that Missouri was ever disloyal to the 
Union. Of these 109,111, eight thousand were negroes who 
had formerly been slaves. The Provisional Government, of 
which Governor Gamble was the head, had been so successful 
in managing the affairs of the State that it established order 
over a great part of it, and answered every call made by the 
national authorities upon Missouri for men, without a draft 
and with a small expenditure of money. The number of 
Union soldiers was forty-seven per cent of the entire number of 
men of military age, and the number furnished both armies was 
sixt3'-four per cent of those subject to military duty. These 

11 



162 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



figures become more instructive when it is remembered that in 
1860 Mr. Lincoln obtained only ten per cent of the State's vote. 
193. Hamilton R. Gamble. — Governor Gamble hav- 
ing died on January 31, 1864, Lieutenant-Governor Willard 
P. Hall became Governor, and acted as such until January, 
1865. Hamilton R. Gamble was born in Virginia, in 1798, 
and was of Irish descent. 
He was educated at Hamp- 
den-Sidney College. Before he 
was of age he was admitted 
to the bar in three States. 
In 1818 he moved to Frank- 
lin, Howard County, and was 
■shortly afterward appointed 
prosecuting attorney. In 
1824 Governor Bates appoint- 
ed him Secretary of State, 
which required him to move to 
St. Charles, the then capital. 
Soon afterward, on the death 
of Bates, he settled in St. 
Louis and made that his home 

till his death. After he took up his home there he soon 
established a reputation as a great lawyer, and from that 
time on was connected with almost every important suit 
pending in the St. Louis courts — followed them to the Supreme 
Court of the United States, argued them in person and ob- 
tained a high reputation as a jurist. In 1846 he was a mem- 
ber of the Legislature. In 1852 he became Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court, and served for three years, being at 
the time a Whig. When the important question of seces- 
sion was submitted to the people, he earnestly and ably 
espoused the cause of the Union, and was elected without oppo- 
sition to the Convention which was to decide Missouri's 
course during the war, and was made chairman of the Com- 




Hatnilton R. Gamble. 



FROM 1862 TO 1864. 163 

mittee on Federal Relations, and wrote the report against 
secession which was adopted. When Claiborne Jackson was 
deposed as Governor, he was elected to the office of Provisional 
Governor by the Convention. He assumed the duties of 
Governor August 1st, 1861, and exercised them till his death. 
He was chosen for only one year, but by a vote of the Con- 
vention, in June, 1862, he was to continue in office till after 
the election in November, 1864. As Governor he had been 
vested with great powers by the Convention, but he exercised 
them with a steadfast purpose to restore peace. 

Questions on Chapter XVII. 

1. What was order No. 24? (183) 

2. How did Engler try to escape it? (183) 

3. Did any one except Halleck try this method of raising money? 

(183) 

4. Describe the battle of Pea Ridge. (184) 

5. What did Price now do? (185) 

6. How many men followed him? (185) 

7. What is said of the State militia? (186) 

8. Mention some of the prominent officers. (186) 

9. What is said of Missourians in opposing companies? (187) 

10. What is said about the Red Legs? (188) 

11. What is said of Quantrill? (188) 

12. And of the sacking of Lawrence? (188) 

13. What counter movement did General Ewing make? (189) 

14. What was order No. 11? (189) 

15. What were its effects? (189) 

16. What is said of Bingham and his picture? (189) 

17. Describe Price's raid. (190) 

18. What was accomplished by it? (190) 

19. What is said of the number of engagements? (191) 

20. How many Missourians in the State Guard and in the Confed- 

eracy? (192) 

21. How do you arrive at this? (192) 

22. How many on the Union side? (192) 

23. What percentage of the population? (192) 

24. Give sketch of life of Gamble. (193) 



164 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR FLETCHER. 



194. Thomas C. Fletcher became Governor January 
2, 1865, and served till 1869. He was the first Republican, 
the first native-born, and the youngest Governor of Missouri 
up to that time. He received 71,531 votes, and his Demo- 
cratic opponent, Thomas L. Price, of Jefferson City, received 
30,406. He was born in Jefferson County, January 22nd, 1827, 
and in early life received a lim- 
ited education. This defect he 
remedied by hard and persistent 
study while serving as deputy 
clerk of the courts of his county. 
Afterwards he was elected clerk 
of these courts, and in 1856 was 
admitted to the bar. In 1860 
he advocated the election of Mr. 
Lincoln, and soon afterwards 
warmly indorsed the course of 
Lyon and Blair. He recruited 
the Thirty-first Missouri Regi- 
ment of Infantry and was made 
its colonel ; took part in the battle 
of Pilot Knob, was wounded and 
captured, and in 1864 was nominated for Governor and 
elected. 

195. The Constitution of 1865.— The General Assem- 
bly had submitted to the people, at the election in 1864, a 
proposition for a Convention to amend the Constitution. It 
was voted to have the Convention by a majority of twenty- 
nine thousand, and sixty-six delegates were elected thereto. 




Thomas C. Fletcher. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 165 

It met in the Mercantile Library Hall in St. Louis, in January, 
1865, and elected Arnold Krekel, president, and Charles 
Drake, vice-president. It in time framed a Constitution 
which never had a parallel in America for its rigid severity. 
It became known in history as the "Drake Constitution," 
because Charles D. Drake was the leading spirit in the Con- 
vention, and from this fact and its extreme severity, has been 
called the "Draconian Code," in comparison to the laws of 
Draco of Greece, which affixed the penalty of death to petty 
thefts and murder alike, Draco justifying this by saying 
small offenses deserved death, and he knew no greater punish- 
ment for worse ones. 

196. Manumission Day. — The Convention, on Janu- 
ary 11, 1865, passed an ordinance which declared that "here- 
after in this State there shall neither be slavery nor involun- 
tary servitude, except in punishment of crime whereof the 
party shall have been duly convicted, and all persons held to 
service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free." This 
ordinance received an overwhelming majority on final pas- 
sage, sixty delegates voting for it and only four against it. 
The Convention refused to submit this ordinance to the peo- 
ple by a vote of forty-four to four, and Governor Fletcher 
the next day issued his proclamation that "henceforth and 
forever no person shall be subject to any abridgment of 
liberty, except such as the law shall prescribe for the common 
good, or know any master but God." An effort was also made 
in the Convention to "pay loyal owners for their slaves," 
but this, too, failed by a vote of forty-four to four. This 
ordinance was passed January 11, 1865, and for that reason 
this day has since been known as Manumission Day. But 
for a number of years there had practically been no slavery in 
Missouri, the slave owners making little or no efforts to 
restrain their slaves. There had been 114,031 of them in 
1860, and before the war ended many thousands had either 
gone off to other States or enlisted in the army. 



166 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

197. The Test Oath.— The action of the Conven- 
tion in passing the Manumission Act was not objected to by 
the people, although the Convention had no authority to de- 
clare it to be In force until it had been either adopted by two 
successive legislatures or approved by the votes of the people. 
However, had the Convention stopped at this, no one would 
have thought of calling its declarations the "Draconian 
Code." But it went further and prescribed a "test oath," 
which prevented at least one-third of the people from vot- 
ing till 1872, and almost as many more would have been 
disfranchised had they sworn strictly to the truth when 
they came to take that oath. This test oath declared that 
no person should vote or hold any kind of office who had 
"ever" engaged in hostilities, or given aid, comfort, coun- 
tenance or support to persons engaged in hostilities, against 
the Government of the United States; or had given money, 
goods, letters, or information to its enemies, or by act or 
word manifested his adherence to the cause of such enemies, 
or his sympathy with those engaged in carrying on rebel- 
lion; or had ever been in anywise connected with any society 
unfriendly to such Government; or had ever knowingly har- 
bored, aided or countenanced any person engaged in guerrilla 
warfare; or had ever done any act to prevent being enrolled 
in the mihtary service of the Union or the State. Any person 
who had done any of these things, or any other thing like them, 
could not vote, teach in any public or private school, practice 
law, preach the gospel, "or be competent as a minister of any 
religious denomination, to preach, teach, or solemnize mar- 
riage, unless such person shall have first taken said oath." 
It did not only require allegiance and loyalty to the Union 
from that time on, which would have been a just and wise 
provision, but it applied to all men who had ever borne arms 
against the United States, or had sympathized at any time with 
those who did take up arms, or had done them acts of common 
kindness, or had refused to bear arms for the national Govern- 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 167 

ment. All citizens attempting to teach or preach without 
taking this oath were to be fined not less than five hundred 
dollars, or committed to prison not less than six months, or 
both; and if they falsely took it, they were to be tried for per- 
jury and punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary. 

198. A Retroactive Law.— An effort was made in 
the Convention to change the words "has ever" been guilty 
of the things recited as offenses in the oath, to 'who has since 
December 17, 1861," been guilty of them. This was done 
for a very just reason. On August 3, 1861, Governor Gam- 
ble issued a proclamation in which he promised that all citi- 
zens in arms who would return to their homes, and become 
peaceable and loyal, should not be molested. This proclama- 
tion was indorsed by President Lincoln, who promised to 
such persons the protection of the national Government. Be- 
sides, the Convention of 1861 had, in October of that year, 
promised that all persons who would obey the proclama- 
tion and take an oath of allegiance to the Government be- 
fore December 17, 1861, should not be punished "for offenses 
previously committed." Many citizens in the State had 
thereupon taken such an oath of allegiance. Others had 
returned from Jackson's support and become loyal citizens. 
It was but just that good faith should be kept with these men, 
and that the "test oath" should not be made to apply to 
them. But the Convention thought otherwise. The iron-clad 
path was made to apply alike to all time, past and future. 

199. Ousting the Officers. — The Convention, on March 
17, 1865, passed an ordinance vacating the offices of the 
judges of the Supreme Court and all of the circuit courts and 
all the county offices. The ordinance was to take effect May 
1st, and was never submitted to the people. It gave the Gov- 
ernor the power to fill all these offices by appointment. Many 
of the terms of the officers, all of whom had been elected by 
the people, had not expired, notably those of the Supreme 
Court judges. They had been elected for a term of six years, 



168 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

and had served not more than fifteen months. The reason 
assigned for this wholesale removal was that only loyal men 
should be in cffice. This was delusive, for Governor Hall, in 
his last message on the twenty-ninth of December previous, 
had announced that "all of the civil offices of the State are 
filled with men of avowed loyalty." The real reason was to 
get rid of the Supreme Court judges. They were not radicals. 
As the war had progressed the radical element in the Republi- 
can party gained in numbers, and conservative men felt 
compelled to withstand their extreme conduct. The conserv- 
atives became known as "Claybanks" and the radicals as 
"Charcoals." The radicals were in complete control of the 
Convention, and the judges were conservatives — they could 
not therefore be trusted to uphold the high-handed things done 
by the Convention. But there were great obstacles in the 
way of their removal. By the old Constitution, which was 
the supreme law until replaced by a new one, they could be 
removed only by the Legislature, which would not meet till 
January. By that time the Supreme Court might set aside 
the test oath and other portions of the Drake Constitution. 
That method was too slow. The power of removal had not 
been granted to the Convention when the people elected their 
delegates. It could be assumed only in violation of the old 
Constitution, which had been in effect since 1820. It was 
assumed, and with one fell sweep the offices of all judges and 
all county offices were vacated. 

200. Defeat Forestalled. — The Convention agreed to 
submit their Constitution to the people for indorsement. But 
to make sure that it would not be rejected, they also passed 
an "ordinance" declaring that no one should vote for or 
against it who would not first take the test oath. In order to 
be sure that none took the oath falsely, a system of registra- 
tion of voters was provided for. The registering officer was 
given the power to pass upon the qualifications of all persons 
to vote, and if he deemed any of them could not truthfully 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 169 

take this oath, he refused to enter their names upon the poll 
books. Yet, after these extreme precautions, the Constitu- 
tion was adopted by the people by a majority of only about 
1800 out of a total vote of 85,000, which was 55,000 less votes 
than were cast for and against having the Convention the 
previous November. The election was held June 6, 1865. 

201. Enforcing the Ousting Ordinance. — The Ameri- 
can people have always been quick to resent any interference 
by a legislative body with the judiciary, especially when it 
partakes of partisan politics. This "ousting ordinance" was 
no exception to the rule. It gave great offense to a large 
number of persons, and assisted in driving them to the side 
of the reactionary current of feeling then rapidly setting in. 
The enforcement of the law against the Supreme Judges was 
resisted by two of the judges, W. V. N. Bay and J. D. S. 
Dryden. Judge Bates had resigned. Soon after the ordi- 
nance was passed Governor Fletcher appointed David Wag- 
ner, Nathaniel Holmes and W. L. Lovelace Supreme Judges. 
Judges Bay and Dryden declared the law without proper 
authority and refused to vacate. Governor Fletcher, there- 
fore, directed the police of St. Louis, where the court was in 
session, to arrest them and forcibly eject them from the court 
building. This was done, and they were taken before a 
criminal court of the city for disturbing the peace, and never 
afterwards attempted to resume their offices. 

202. The Results of the Draconian Code. — A most 
violent proscription followed the enforcement of this "test 
oath." "Tens of thousands of old and honored citizens, men 
of education and influence, who had taken no part in the war, 
were denied the right to vote, and that, too, on the adoption 
of an organic law which was to govern them and their chil- 
dren after them." But, hard as this was, it is not to be com- 
pared to the further penalty of the law which forbade them 
to preach, teach, practice law or follow other simple employ- 
ments. Their only remaining rights seemed to be, as they 



170 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

were plainly told, "to pay taxes, work the roads and hold 
their peace." In St. Louis, Francis Preston Blair, who had 
done more than any other man to keep Missouri in the Union, 
was denied the privilege of voting because he refused to take 
the test oath. He filed an oath that he had been loyal ever 
since the adoption of the Constitution, and he would full and 
true allegiance bear to the State and National governments 
thereafter; but claimed the judges of election had no right 
to inquire into his conduct prior to the time the Constitu- 
tion was adopted. He brought suit in the Supreme Court to 
compel the election officers to receive his ballot. It decided 
against him. 

The Missouri Baptists at their annual state meeting, 
fifty delegates being present, agreed to decline to take the 
oath, even if they had to give up preaching to do so. They 
declared it interfered with religious liberty, with freedom of 
the worship of God and was contrary to the Federal Consti- 
tution. The Catholic archbishop informed the clergy they 
could not take the oath without a surrender of religious lib- 
erty. Some men, who believed the dictates of conscience 
more binding upon them than this "code," undertook to 
preach the Gospel anyhow. For doing so they were indicted 
as criminals. Fourteen ministers were indicted at Palmyra 
at a single session of the circuit court. At other places men 
were indicted 104 times a year for no greater crime than 
preaching the glad message of salvation; a much greater 
number were indicted a less number of times; a few were con- 
signed to the common jail. These were not bad and quarrel- 
some men, but as good, able and peaceable as could be found 
in the State, and clergymen of both Protestant and Catholic 
churches. In Cape Girardeau County three sisters of charity 
were dragged into court and tried for teaching without hav- 
ing taken this iron-clad oath, but the jury refused to con- 
vict them. At Louisiana, the Rev. J. A. Cummings, a priest 
in the Catholic church, was convicted in the circuit court. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF FLETCHER. 171 

His crime was teaching and preaching without having taken 
the oath referred to. There was no evidence that Mr. Cum- 
mings had been guilty of any act of disloyalty, or that he had 
at any time a disloyal thought or sympathy. He was not so 
charged. He was charged only with preaching and teaching 
without having taken the oath, which had he taken falsely, 
howevisr loyal he was then and thereafter, would have made 
him liable to imprisonment in the penitentiary. He was con- 
victed, sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars and to 
be committed to jail till the fine and costs were paid. He ap- 
pealed his case to the Supreme Court of the State. It decided 
against him. Then he appealed to the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and it set the test oath aside as contrary to the 
nation's Constitution. That court declared it to be an ex 
post facto law. It said no State was permitted to enact a law 
which punished men for offenses committed before the law 
was passed. After that decision, indictments ceased for 
preaching the Gospel and practicing law and pursuing other 
employments. These indictments had in but few cases been 
followed by fine and imprisonment. Final action had been 
taken in but very few of them, the courts in most cases delay- 
ing trial in the matter till the national Supreme Court should 
decide the Cummings case. When that decision was made in 
favor of the preachers, teachers and lawyers, the indictments 
were never again called up in court, and never again heard 
of. 

203. Registration Act. — The Supreme Court of the 
United States had, by its decision in the case of J. A. Cum- 
mings and in that of Francis P. Blair, set aside all that part 
of the test oath which disfranchised so many men. Since 
then some of the strongest Union men in the State had set 
themselves against it, including such prominent citizens as 
Francis P. Blair, John S. Phelps, B. Gratz Brown, Carl 
Schurz, Samuel T. Glover, John F. Philips, James O. Broad- 
head and Wiilard P. Hall. The movement had gained great 



172 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

momentum, but still its opponents had a majority in the 
Legislature. At the session of 1868 it was therefore deter- 
mined to again make an attempt at general proscription. A 
very stringent registration law was passed. It gave the Gov- 
ernor power to appoint superintendents of registration in 
each senatorial district, who in turn appointed three registrars 
in each county. These four officers were authorized to make 
a list of all the legal voters in the county. They were for- 
bidden to enroll any person who would not take an oath of 
loyalty, and besides were given the power to refuse to enroll 
any others than those they chose. In many counties they 
chose to refuse half of the citizens. In some cases wealthy can- 
didates for office influenced the registrars to enroll their fol- 
lowers, and to decline to enroll their opponents. No one was 
allowed to vote whose name was not enrolled by these regis- 
trars. This law, perhaps, disfranchised more voters than the 
original ''test oath." It was made a principal issue in the 
campaign of 1868, and the canvass was attended with bitter- 
ness and often violence. 

204. The Election of 1868.— The Republican candi- 
date for Governor was Joseph W. McClurg of Camden County. 
The Democratic candidate was John S. Phelps of Springfield. 
McClurg's majority was 19,000, and the whole vote cast was 
145,000. E. O. Stanard, of St. Louis, was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor. 

Questions on Chapter XVIII. 

1. What is said of Thomas C. Fletcher? (194) 

2. What proposition did the Legislature submit to the people at the 

election of 1864? (195) 

3. When did this convention meet and who was its president? (195) 

4. What is said of the constitution it framed? (195) 

5. What action did this Convention take toward manumitting 

slaves? (196) 

6. What did it avail? (196) 

7. How was it received by the people? (197) 

8. To what persons did the test oath deny the ballot? (197) 



McCLURG'S ADMINISTRATION. 173 

9. What else did it deny them? (197) 

10. What penalties did it prescribe? (197) 

11. To what time was it attempted to limit its proscriptions? (198) 

12. Why was this done? (198) 

13. How had the President indorsed this proclamation? (198) 

14. Who else indorsed it, and how? (198) 

15. What about a State that violates its promises? (198) 

16. What action did the Convention take toward ousting officers? 

(199) 

17. On what grounds? (199) 

18. What had Governor Hall to say about this? (199) 

19. What was the real reason for ousting the officers? (199) 

20. How did the Convention forestall defeat? (200) 

21. What was the result of the election? (200) 

22. How was the ousting ordinance enforced? (201) 

23. Mention some results of the Drake Constitution. (202) 

24. How was Frank Blair treated? (202) 

25. What course did he pursue? (202) 

26. What course did the Missouri Baptists pursue? (202) 

27. What did the Catholic archbishop do? (202) 

28. How about the indictment of preachers? (202) 

29. Recite the details in the trial of J. A. Cummings. (202) 

30. How did the U. S. Supreme Court regard this law? (202) 

31. What prominent men led the opposition to the test oath? (203) 

32. How did its friends determine upon neutralizing the U. S. Court's 

decision? (203) 

33. What is said of the Registration Act? (203) 

34. How did the election of 1868 result? (204) 



CHAPTER XIX. 

McCLURG'S ADMINISTRATION. 

205. Joseph W. McClurg was born in St. Louis County, 
February 22, 1818, and was educated at Oxford, Ohio. He 
taught school in Ohio and Louisiana, and was deputy sheriff 
in St. Louis before he was twenty-one. Two years later he 
was licensed to practice law, but soon afterwards engaged in 
merchandizing in Camden County. When the war came on 
he took positive and enthusiastic grounds for the Union. He 
entered Congress as a Republican in 1862 and served till Janu- 



174 HISTORY OF MISSOURI'. 

ary, 1869, when he resigned to become Governor of Missouri. 
He was again a candidate in 1870, but was defeated. 

206. Suffrage for Slaves. — The Legislature had in 
1867 agreed by a large majority to submit to the people an 
amendment to the Constitution granting to former slaves and 
their descendants the privilege of voting. The amendment 
was voted on at the election in November, 1868, and was de- 
feated by nearly nineteen thousand majority. But on January 
7, 1870, the question again came before the Legislature in the 
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United 
States, which the Legislature adopted by about a two-thirds 
vote of both houses, and as the President soon afterwards pro- 
claimed that the legislatures of three-fourths of the States 
had adopted the amendment, these people were thus given 
the privilege of voting. This was before the ballot had been 
restored to those who were, disfranchised by the Drake Con- 
stitution and the registration act. 

207. Repeal of Proscriptive Tests. — The same Legis- 
lature, however, agreed to submit to the voters an amend- 
ment to the Constitution abolishing the test oath and restor- 
ing the ballot to former Confederates, Southern sympathizers 
and all other male citizens, and relieving them of other pro- 
scriptive penalties. This was voted on in November, 1870. A 
very warm and earnest campaign preceded the vote. The 
Republican party disagreed in regard to what should be done 
with the great number of disfranchised citizens. Many were 
in favor of postponing the giving of the ballot to these men. 
These were called "Radical Republicans." But an equal 
number believed in entire removal of all political disabilities 
at once. They were called "Liberal Republicans." The 
Republicans met in convention in Jefferson City in August, 
1870, and voted to adhere to the Radical Republican doc- 
trine, by a vote of 349 to 342, and nominated Joseph W. 
McClurg, the then Governor, for re-election. The Liberal 
Republicans, under the lead of Carl Schurz, withdrew from 



McCLURG'S ADMINISTRATION. 175 

the convention, adopted a platform for immediate re-enfran- 
chisement, and nominated B. Gratz Brown for Governor. 
The Democrats decHned to nominate State officers, but 
supported the Liberal Republican ticket. Mr. Brown was 
elected by forty-one thousand majority, and the people voted 
to repeal the proscriptive tests by a majority of one hundred 
and eleven thousand, there being only about sixteen thousand 
votes against the proposition. The Liberal Republicans and 
Democrats had also obtained a majority in both houses of the 
Legislature, and they went to work at once to repeal all ob- 
noxious laws, and restore to every man equality before the 
laws, and remove all political disabilities from all. As a result, 
at the election in 1872 the vote was 112,276 greater than it 
was in 1870, an increase of sixty-seven per cent in two years. 
By this fact we can arrive at an estimate of the number dis- 
franchised. Of this increase it is not proper to count the 
negro vote, because the Fifteenth amendment to the national 
Constitution, bestowing on negroes the right to vote, became 
a law of the nation prior to the election of 1870. It is possible, 
however, that twenty-five per cent of the increase, or twenty- 
eight thousand, were immigrants and young men now. for the 
first time old enough to vote. This would leave eighty- 
four thousand men who had been disfranchised by the sweeping 
proscription of the Drake Constitution — more than twice as 
many as ever took up arms as State Guards or Confederate 
troops. 

208. Peace. — The restoration to citizenship was wise 
and just. Whatsoever good reason there might have been 
for denying to so many citizens the right to vote and follow 
their chosen employments in 1865, it could not be urged that 
the conduct of these men had been such as to make it unsafe 
to trust them with full and equal citizenship within a few 
years after the war had closed. Their conduct was as peace- 
able and orderly as that of any class of men in the State. Not 
even did the preachers, teachers and lawyers, after the United 



176 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

States Supreme Court had restored to them the privilege of 
following their chosen pursuits, make harsh or disloyal asser- 
tions in public. Political subjects were rarely spoken of in 
the pulpit or school. The great mass of these men had quietly 
returned to their homes, controlled by a desire for peace and 
to submit in good faith to the authority of the Union. They 
had gone diligently to work at whatever employment was 
open to them, to regaining their lost fortunes, rebuilding their 
burnt houses, and re-establishing themselves in the land 
whose fruits they had enjoyed before the war. Nothing is to 
be feared from such men, and now that the duty was upon 
them again to maintain the Union they loyally and sincerely 
undertook to do so. 

Questions on Chapfter XIX. 

1. Give sketch of the life of Joseph McClurg. (205) 

2. How did the people vote on the question of giving the ballet tc 

former slaves and their descendants? (206) 

3. But what course did the Legislature pursue? (206) 

4. Describe the split in the Republican party. (207) 

5. What was the result of the election? (207) 

6. What majority did Brown secure? (207) 

7. What was the majority for removing proscriptive tests? (207) 

8. What was the increase of the vote two years later? (207) 

9. What do these figures show? (207) 

10. What about the restoration of citizenship to all? (208) 

11. How did the preachers, lawyers, teachers and other disfranchised 
persons behave? (208) 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 



177 



CHAPTER XX. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR BROWN. 



209. Benjamin Gratz Brown, the twentieth Governor, 
served from January, 1871, to 1873. He was born at Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky, in 1826, and was 
a descendant of much-honored 
families of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky. He received the best of 
schooling in his native State 
and graduated at Yale College 
at the age of twenty-one. He 
came to Missouri in 1849, 
settled in St. Louis, and began 
the practice of law, but aban- 
doned it in a year or two. 
In 1852 he was elected to the 
Legislature and was re-elected 
in 1854, both times as a "Free 
Soil" candidate. In 1854 he 
became editor of the Missouri Democrat, and continued as 
such till the breaking out of the war, with great ability and 
reputation. Early in the war he raised a Union regiment, 
became its colonel, and bore himself as a gallant and brave 
officer in the campaign in southwest Missouri. In 1863 he 
was elected to the United States Senate by the radical eman- 
cipationists, and served till 1867. But the war over, he 
changed from a radical to a liberal, as did Blair, Glover, Schurz 
and many others. In 1866 he led the opposition to the test- 
oath proscription. In 1870 he was nominated for Governor 
by the Liberal Republicans, was elected and served two years. 
In 1872 he was nominated by the Liberal Republicans for Vice- 
President along with Horace Greeley for President, and was 




B. Gratz Brown. 



178 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

defeated. Then he returned to St. Louis, resumed the prac- 
tice of law and gained distinction at the bar. He was an 
excellent Governor, and did much to bring about peaceable 
and kind feelings between the discordant elements created by 
the war. He died in St. Louis, respected, honored and loved 
as a good and true man. 

210. Peace and Prosperity. — As the people got away 
from the war and began to study the lessons it had taught, 
the better side of mankind again showed itself. A general 
desire for peace grew stronger and stronger. A purpose to 
restore order, to re-establish prosperity, to retrieve broken 
fortunes, was manifest everywhere. Many a noble estate had 
been swept away by the fell hand of cruel war. Many a rich 
plantation had been laid waste, many a comfortable farm- 
house had been burnt, cattle and horses and all kinds of stock 
had been seized and driven from the land, confidence was 
d'estroyed, and deep feelings of resentment had laid hold on 
those formerly neighbors. But now that it was all over, that 
the cause was gone, these feelings gave way to higher and 
better and more manly ones, and the determination was sure 
and settled that the war should be over forever. Men began, 
in their cool and quiet labors, to see that they could honestly 
differ about even such a thing as war. This was followed by 
peace and mutual confidence, and now again the woodman's 
axe was heard in the forests, the plow was set deeper into the 
soil, and the grain ripened in the fields, was garnered and 
sold in the open market. A few malevolent spirits still sulked 
abroad, but the great body of the people — Union and Con- 
federate soldier, Northener, Southerner, foreigner and native 
alike — united in action and feeling in intellectual and moral 
upbuilding. While the war had lasted many of the schools 
were closed, till at one time there were only 1,200 open. By 
1870 this number had increased to 5,000. Population had 
decreased from 1,182,000 in 1860 to about 900,000 in January, 
1865. Now in 1870, it was 1,719,000, according to the 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 179 

United States census, but in fact it was somewhat smaller. 
The taxable wealth had almost doubled within the four years 
prior to 1870. Tens of thousands of immigrants, mostly from 
the Atlantic States and from north of the Ohio, had come 
into Missouri and acquired homes. On every side the people 
were fast effacing all traces of the war. 

211. Railroad Difficulties. — The Drake Constitution 
permitted counties to subscribe money in any amount to aid 
in building railroads. It authorized the county court to issue 
bonds binding the county for the payment of these subscrip- 
tions whenever two-thirds of the qualified voters of the county 
should assent thereto. But this provision requiring the assent 
of the voters proved to be a small obstacle in the way of county 
courts issuing bonds whenever they wished. The Supreme 
Court held that it did not apply to a railroad which before the 
Constitution went into effect had received from the Legis- 
lature a charter which did not require the voters* consent. 
Some county courts took advantage of that holding and issued 
bonds in large quantities. Besides, when the voters' consent 
was in form obtained it proved to be no consent in fact of 
those who must pay the taxes. In some cases the county 
courts were composed of dishonest or ignorant men, and the 
"qualified voters" were not the people who owned the prop- 
erty of the county, and who, therefore, would have to pay the 
taxes, for many of them had been disfranchised, but a class of 
men who were governed more by other motives than justice 
and patriotism. The elections often were merely formal, only 
a small per cent of the taxpayers being permitted to vote. 
Dishonest speculators, in a few instances, bribed the county 
court to issue the bonds without the people's knowledge or 
consent. Bonds to the amount of fifteen million dollars and 
over were issued by the various counties. But the roads were 
never built. Usually, work would be commenced on the 
roadbeds at various places along the proposed routes, and kept 
up with great vigor for a few weeks, and then reports would 



180 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



come that the companies - had become bankrupt, and work 
would cease. Only partial payments were ever made for the 
work done. 

In the meantime the bonds were run off to New York 
and elsewhere, and, before they had matured, were sold to 
third parties, who paid little or no money for them, but after- 
wards claimed that they were innocent of any knowledge of 
the fraud practiced upon the taxpayers. As the courts had 
the power by law to issue the bonds, the United States Su- 
preme Court held they must be paid. As a result, debts of 
several hundred thousand dollars were fastened upon Lafay- 
ette, Cass, Knox, St. Clair, Macon and other counties. 

212. Resisting Payments. — Payment of these bonds 
was, in a few cases, made in full; in others, terms of com- 
promise were agreed upon by which the bond-holders accepted 
fifty or sixty or eighty per cent 
of the face of the bonds as full 
payment; but in other cases, 
where the debts were enormous 
and the fraud glaring, payment 
was resisted. In Cass County 
popular resentment became vio- 
lent, and at Gunn City on April 
24, 1872, a large uprising of the 
people put to death three men 
concerned in issuing the bonds. 
Judge J. C. Stevenson, one of 
the county judges, and James C. 
Cline, county attorney, had been 
indicted for complicity in the 
fradulent issuing of the bonds. 
On this date they and Thomas Dutro, who was one of Cline's 
bondsmen, were on a train which was intercepted by about 
three hundred citizens of Cass County. They were mercilessly 
shot down, and the train greatly damaged by the infuriated 




Francis Marlon Cockrell. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 181 

people. Popular feeling in Cass and surrounding counties 
soon became intense. Governor Brown called out the militia, 
and sent General F. M. Cockrell and Colonel John F. Philips 
as special commissioners for the State to urge peace and order. 
These efforts were entirely successful. Attempts were after- 
wards made to punish the men who assisted in the killing, but 
no jury could be persuaded to convict them. Since that time 
the bond-holders have brought suit against these counties in 
the United States courts, which decided against the counties 
and instructed the county courts to levy taxes to pay these 
debts. But a new set of judges had, in the meantime, come 
into office; men who considered it unjust to pay bonds for 
roads that had never been built. They refused to levy taxes, 
and were, in some instances, sent to prison for contempt of 
Federal authority. But they would not order the levy, and, 
when they tired of the attempts to force them to do so, they 
would resign, and their successors pursued the same course. 
By this means the Federal courts were powerless to enforce 
payment, though various attempts were made for many years. 
But in all these counties except three or four these bonds have 
now been settled by compromise. 

213. Other Railroad Debts. — There were other rail- 
road debts. At different times prior to the Civil war the State 
granted to various railroad companies aid in the construction 
of their roads by issuing State bonds to the amount of about 
twenty-three million dollars. For this aid the companies 
agreed to pay the interest on these bonds as fast as it became 
due, and if they failed to do so the roads were to be forfeited 
to the State. The Hannibal and St. Joseph road paid its 
bonds, which amounted to three million dollars, and also the 
interest. But default in the payment of the interest by the 
other roads was made between January, 1859, and July, 1861, 
and soon after the war the Missouri Pacific, the Frisco, the 
Iron Mountain, the Wabash and other roads were sold by the 
State. In addition to this there was forfeited to the State and 



182 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

sold along with the roads over one million acres of land, which 
had been granted to them by Congress, and pledged to the 
State for payment of this debt. The entire debt at the time 
of the sale, including principal and interest, was over thirty- 
one million dollars, and the State realized from the various 
sales only a little over six millions, so that there remained a 
debt of twenty-five millions, which the State has since had 
to pay, besides the many millions in interest maturing since 
the sale. These railroad debts have been the source of nearly 
all the State's subsequent debts. The original bonds bore 
six and seven per cent interest. But the State went about 
the work of steadily paying the debt, and in 1885 it bought 
up nearly half of its six per cent bonds by new bonds which 
bore only three and a half per cent interest, and thus a great 
amount of money was saved annually in interest alone. The 
last of the debt was paid by 1903, except about $4,300,000, 
which is now represented by "certificates of indebtedness" 
belonging to the Public School Fund and the Seminary Fund. 
The State pays interest on those certificates, which is dis- 
tributed annually to the public schools and the University. 

214. The Election of 1872.— The Liberal Republican 
movement which began in 1870, and which subsequently 
spread over all the Union, continued. Efforts were made to 
reunite the two discordant factions of the Republican party, 
but they utterly failed. On August 21, 1872, the Liberal Re- 
publicans and the Democrats met in separate conventions in 
Jefferson City to nominate a joint ticket. A committee of 
conference was appointed from each convention, which soon 
agreed upon a fusion ticket. The various ofhces were divided 
up between the two parties according to their numerical 
strength. The Democrats nominated the candidate for Gov- 
ernor, the four Supreme Judges, eight of the Presidential 
electors, Treasurer, Attorney-General and Auditor; the Lib- 
erals named the Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, 
Register of Lands and seven Presidential Electors. Silas 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF BROWN. 183 

Woodson, of Buchanan County, was the nominee for Governor, 
and Charles P. Johnson, of St. Louis, for Lieutenant-Governor. 
The two conventions then came together into one, and in- 
dorsed the nominations as a whole. In September, the reg- 
ular Republicans nominated John B. Henderson for Governor. 
At the election, Woodson's majority was 35,444, and the 
entire electoral vote of the State was cast for Greeley for 
President and Brown for Vice-President. At the time for the 
next election, in 1874, the Liberal Republican movement had 
disappeared, the vast majority of that party having become 
Democrats, but a few reunited with the regular Republicans. 

Questions on Chapter XX. 

1. Give a sketch of the Hfe of B. Gratz Brown. (209) 

2. What is said of him as Governor? (209) 

3. What were some of the effects of the war? (210) 

4. What now was the condition? (210) 

5. What is said about schools and population? (210) 

6. What railroad difficulties are described in section 211? 

7. What was done with these bonds? (211) 

8. How were the debts settled in many cases? (212) 

9. Describe the Gunn City tragedy. (212) 

10. How was order restored? (212) 

11. What about the actions of county judges in some of these counties? 

(212) 

12. Describe other railroad debts. (213) 

13. How much was the entire debt at one time, and what was it after 

the railroads and lands were sold? (213) 

14. What was done in 1885? (213) 

15. How is the rest of the debt now represented? (213) 

16. What is said of parties in 1872? (2 14) 

17. Who were the candidates and who was elected? (214) 

18. What became of the Liberal Republican movement? (214) 



184 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 

215. Silas Woodson was born in Kentucky in 1819. 
He was reared on a farm, attended the "log schoolhouse" in 
the neighborhood, and employed much of his time in read- 
ing and study. He was licensed to practice law at the age 
of twenty-one, and three years later was elected to the Leg- 
islature, and re-elected several times in the next twelve years. 
He also was circuit attorney for four years. In 1854 he came to 
Missouri and settled in St. Joseph, where he was soon recog- 
nized as a lawyer of marked ability. In 1860 he was elected 
circuit judge and served with acceptability through the stormy 
days of the war. He was elected chairman of the Democratic 
State Convention of 1872. He was not then a candidate for 
Governor. But there were six candidates. Three ballots 
were taken without any choice, and in the midst of the fourth 
the name of Woodson was proposed as a compromise candidate, 
and it was received with such enthusiasm that he was nomi- 
nated almost unanimously. He was inaugurated January 8, 
1873, and served two years. He filled other honorable posi- 
tions after his term as Governor expired, and died in St. Joseph 
in 1896. 

216. Business Depression. — During the term of Gov- 
ernor Woodson there was the greatest financial depression. 
The crisis was precipitated by the failure of Jay Cooke & 
Company of New York in the spring of 1873. The panic soon 
became general. Every State in the Union felt the bitings 
and gnawings of business failure. In Missouri, bank after 
bank closed its doors, and business was temporarily par- 
alyzed. To add to the troubles there was a failure in crops, 
owing to a drought which set in in the summer of 1873 and 
lasted for eighteen months, with very little rain at any time. 



GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 185 

The Governor, in his message of 1874, said: "Thousands who 
in days gone by have been able, without serious difficulty or 
great loss, to obtain money with which to pay debts or taxes, 
can not procure a dollar for any purpose except at the most 
ruinous sacrifices." He proposed to meet the difficulties, as 
far as possible, by cutting down expenditures in all offices, 
and so earnestly did he plead with the Legislature that it 
and subsequent sessions reduced state and county expenses 
nearly one-half in every branch of the government except 
that of public education. 

217. The Grange.— The financial troubles of 1873 and 
1874 were in part due to the natural collapse of the reckless^ 
speculation which seized upon the people at the close of the 
war, and of the high prices which that war had created, with 
the assistance of a very large amount of discredited paper 
money. But a very large part 6f the people did not accept 
this as the cause, and throughout the West there began to 
form farmers' societies which were called the Grange. Some- 
times the order was called the Patrons of Husbandry, but it 
was better known by the former name. It spread rapidly 
throughout the West and soon had over a million members, 
with local societies in almost every neighborhood. Many 
of its members, and most of its leaders, were men of integrity, 
but its great membership was undoubtedly due to the finan- 
cial troubles of 1873 and 1874. The order refused to admit 
lawyers, bankers, capitalists, and merchants as members. It 
was organized on the theory that nearly all financial troubles 
were due to bad legislation, and it proposed to unite all labor- 
ers, especially farmers, in an attempt to repeal all bad laws 
and make all necessary good ones. This, of course, had been 
the desire of all good citizens from the beginning of the nation, 
but thoughtful men soon concluded that the Grange acted 
upon the unfair theory that its members were entitled to 
favors in the making of laws which were to be denied to other 
persons. This led much of the press in the East, and even 



186 . HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

in States where the organization was strongest, to oppose it, 
as teaching doctrines which would array one class of citizens 
against another. This opposition the Grange met by declar- 
ing the unfriendly press was dominated by the capitalists and 
corporations, and hence there began to be discordant relations 
between the order and the political parties. 

218. Campaign of 1874.— At the election of 1874 the 
Democratic party nominated Charles H. Hardin, of Audrain 
County, for Governor, and Norman J. Colman for Lieutenant- 
Governor. The Republicans declined to make any nomina- 
tions, but the Grange and that party united in what was 
called the People's Party, and nominated William Gentry, 
an extensive farmer of Pettis County, for Governor. The cry 
of the Granger members of the People's Party was ''Reform," 
by which they meant retrenchment in governmental expend- 
itures. But Governor Woodson and the Legislature had 
already forestalled them by passing the laws cutting down 
expenses, and hence few of the Democratic farmers saw any 
reason to leave their party on that account. Hardin was 
elected by a majority of 37,463, and the Democrats elected 
thirteen Representatives in Congress, the number to which 
the State was entitled. The part the Grange had taken in 
politics at this election caused much dissatisfaction among 
its members, and the order soon began to lose power, and in 
a year or two went down almost as fast as it had risen. 

219. Charles H. Hardin was born in Kentucky in 1820, 
but came with his parents to Missouri when a mere infant. 
He was reared to manhood in Columbia, and enjoyed the 
advantages of good schools. He afterwards graduated with 
the degree of A. B. from Miami University, in Ohio. He re- 
turned to Missouri, studied law, located at Fulton, rapidly 
rose in his profession, and soon became known as a laborious, 
painstaking lawyer. In 1848 he became prosecuting attorney 
for the Third Judicial Circuit, which embraced several 
counties. In 1852, 1854 and 1858 he represented Callaway 



GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 



187 




Charles H. Hardin. 



County in the Legislature as a Whig, ai>d in 1855 was one of 
the committee of three which revised all the statutes of the 
State and codified them in book form. In 1860 he was elected 

to the State Senate, and was the 
author of the resolution creating 
the convention to which was re- 
ferred the question of secession. 
He attended the called meeting 
of the Legislature held at Neosho 
in October, 1861, and was the 
only Senator present who voted 
against secession. He remained 
unalterable in his allegiance to 
the Union during the war, but 
took no active part in the trou- 
bles of those times. In 1872 he 
was again elected to the Sen- 
ate and maintained his former 
reputation for laborious and conscientious work. In 1874 
he was elected Governor, and his administration was one 
of the most honorable in the entire history of the State. 
In 1873 a college for the education of girls was projected at 
Mexico, at which place he had lived since 1861, and named 
Hardin College in his honor. From his munificent hand it 
had received many thousand dollars up to the time of his 
death in 1892. 

220. Locusts. — In 1874 and in 1875 all the country 
west of Missouri, even to and beyond the Rocky Mountains, 
was plagued by a devouring insect. Governor Hardin, in his 
message, called them the Rocky Mountain locusts, but the 
people usually referred to them as Kansas grasshoppers. 
They were about two inches long and looked very much like 
the ordinary grasshopper that has always been seen in this 
State, except their legs were of a reddish color, and parts of 
their bodies, wings and head were more or less reddish also. 



188 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

They came down from the mountains in 1874, filHng and 
almost darkening the heavens by their great number. They 
quickly overran Colorado, then came on through Kansas, and 
late in the summer invaded Missouri. In Colorado and parts 
of Kansas they ate up every green thing, taking every live 
blade of grass and every leaf on tree and bush and flower and 
vegetable. They entered a few counties of Missouri, but in 
1874 they came after most of the crops had matured, and hence 
did not that year do much damage here. They deposited their 
eggs, however, and as it became warm next year these hatched 
out in great numbers. The people fought them before they 
were able to fly, and thus greatly mitigated the pest. The 
most effective way was by- digging ditches, putting in a 
few inches of straw, then driving the locusts into the ditch 
and burning the straw. Yet, in spite of all of these efforts, 
they overran several counties along the western border of 
the State. The first months of 1875 were dark days for 
these counties. Their wheat and meadows were destroyed 
by the locusts. They planted their corn, but it was devoured 
as fast as it came up. Again they would plant it, thinking 
that the insects would leave as soon as they became able to 
fly, and again it was devoured. Governor Hardin proclaimed 
that June 3, 1875, should be observed as a day of "fasting, 
thanksgiving and prayer" for Divine deliverance from the 
vexatious plague. The proclamation was generally observed, 
especially in that part of the State where the danger seemed 
most imminent; and throughout the State the people re- 
sponded liberally with money and provisions for the suffer- 
ers. About this time, in fact on the very next day, heavy 
rains set in. Up to that time the long continued drought had 
not abated in western Missouri, though slight rains had fallen 
in the spring months of 1875, but now they became heavy and 
frequent. This was regarded as a forerunner of deliverance. 
It was. The locusts began to move about June 11th, but a 
strong southwest wind drove them further into the interior 



GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 189 

of the State, but in a day or two the wind shifted to the east, 
and by the fifteenth the locusts were all gone. The next year 
they came again, but did little damage, and since that time 
have not appeared. The citizens of these counties began at 
once to retrieve the loss. They planted their crops again, and, 
the season being very favorable from that time on, the yield 
was bountiful. All over the State the crops were prodigious 
in 1875, and this fact served largely to alleviate the business 
depression of the two previous years. 

221. The New Constitution. — ^The people did not be- 
come any nearer satisfied with the Drake Constitution as 
they more thoroughly adjusted themselves to re-established 
peace. They felt it was out of harmony with the spirit of 
the age. At the election of 1874 a convention to frame a new 
constitution was voted for. Sixty-eight delegates, two from 
each senatorial district, were elected thereto on January 6, 
1875. They were able men, of great personal worth and 
wisdom. Sixty of them were Democrats, six Republicans 
and two Liberals. They met in the Capitol May 15, 1875. 
Waldo P. Johnson was elected president, and Nathanial W. 
Watkins vice-president. A thorough revision of the entire 
organic law of the State was made. The best provisions of the 
preceding constitutions were retained, but an entire new con- 
stitution was framed. It has from time to time been amended, 
notably in increasing the number of judges of the Supreme 
Court from five to seven, in increasing the number of courts 
of appeals from one to three, in giving county courts power to 
levy a tax of twenty-five cents on the hundred dollars' valu- 
ation to be used exclusively for improving public roads, in 
authorizing counties by vote of the people to issue bonds for 
building permanent roads, and in authorizing a prosecuting 
attorney to institute prosecutions in all felony cases by his 
information instead of solely upon indictment by a grand jury; 
but in late years the people have uniformly voted down all 
proDosed amendments. 



190 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

222. Three Marked Features. — Only three of Its pro- 
visions will here be spoken of. (1) It prohibited the 
Legislature irom imposing a debt upon the State in any amount 
above two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for any one year, 
unless two-thirds of the voters at an election should authorize 
it to do so, and did not permit towns and counties to issue 
bonds for any purpose except for the erection of public im- 
provements. This was done to put a stop to the wasteful, 
and sometimes wicked, issue of bonds for building railroads. 
(2) Another feature of this Constitution was the restrictions 
it put upon the Legislature, county courts, cities and school 
districts to tax the people. All these have been discussed 
in the proper chapters of the Civil Government of Missouri. 
Under such a constitution no more great railroad debts like 
those discussed in sections 121 and 211-213 can be contracted. 
In late years these two provisions, which fixed maximum rates 
of taxation which may be imposed, and a maximum amount of 
indebtedness which may be incurred, by the State or a county, 
city or school district, have been persistently attacked, as 
standing in the way of necessary public improvements. 
They limit the amount of income, and therefore not only 
enforce rigid economy, but, it is claimed, bar necessar^^ public 
enterprise. It is asserted that the State does not have, and 
cannot by any proper method of taxation obtain, enough 
money to properly sustain the University and Normal Schools, 
and give needed assistance to high schools, common schools 
and public roads, and care for the blind and aged and other 
unfortunates. The result is that a persistent agita- 
tion for a new constitution which will remove these maximum 
rates of taxation and raise the limit of indebtedness, is steadily 
growing. On the other hand, a large per cent of the people, 
expecially taxpayers, assert these provisions of the pres- 
ent Constitution are its most valuable features, and op- 
pose any change. (3) Its other marked feature was the 
thoughtful provisions for public schools. Under the liberal 



GOVERNORS WOODSON AND HARDIN. 191 

laws it permitted the Legislature to enact, Missouri now 
outranks almost every State in the amount of her school funds 
(see Civ. Gov., sec. 330) and spends about twenty million 
dollars every year for education. 

The other provisions cannot be presented here, but, at 
the final vote in the Convention on its adoption, not a vote was 
recorded against it, and on the thirtieth of October it was 
adopted by the people, there being ninety-one thousand votes 
for it and only fourteen thousand five hundred against it. 
It went into effect November 30, 1875, and marked a new era 
in the State's history, not especially acclaimed at the time, 
but very apparent at this distance, for from that time on the 
whole people realized that the proscriptions and turmoil of 
the ten years between 1860 and 1870 were forever at an end. 
When Haidin became Governor he set for himself the task of 
promoting harmony and good will among the whole people, 
and being a man of peace and orderly life himself he did much 
to accomplish that purpose. From the time of his adminis- 
tration and the adoption of the Constitution of 1875 up to the 
present the history of the State has been uneventful. It has 
been an era of peace. There have been droughts and floods, 
hard times and flush prosperity, political contests and party 
discord; but more and more the people have drawn together 
in the wholesome pursuits of peaceful industry — in enlarging 
agriculture, manufacturing and commerce, in beautifying 
their homes and cities, in developing schools, in promoting 
good morals, in cultivating polite manners, in strengthening 
the ties that bind communities into good neighbors and friends. 
As a result Missouri has slowly become one of the finest 
commonwealths in the world — rich in material wealth, rich 
in strong men and beautiful women, rich in sound manhood. 

223. Terms of Office, — By the new Constitution, the 
term of the Governor and of nearly all other State and many 
county officers was lengthened from two to four years, and 
it was provided that the Governor and Treasurer could not 



192 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

be re-elected as their own successors. It was thought the 
Governor would not set himself to building up a personal 
political machine, but would choose men because of their spe- 
cial fitness rather than for their political influence in making his 
appointments, if not permitted to succeed himself. As the 
Treasurer handles the State's money, it was considered it would 
be less liable to be purloined if frequent changes were made in 
the officers, and for the same reason sheriffs are not permitted 
to serve continuously ' longer than four years; but almost 
all other officers are eligible to re-election for at least a second 
term and a majority of them for any number of terms. 

224. The Election of 1876.— At the election in 1876 
the Democratic and Republican parties each nominated 
strong and talented men for Governor, John S. Phelps of 
Greene and G. A. Finkelnburg of St. Louis. The issues in the 
campaign that followed were largely national. The Demo- 
cratic majority was fifty-two thousand, and Phelps was 
inaugurated Governor January 8th, 1877. 

Questions on Chapter XXI. 

1. Recite some of the incidents in the life of Silas Woodson. (215) 

2. What is said about the business depressions during his term? 

(216) 

3. How did he and the Legislature meet this condition? (216) 

4. What is said of the Gran -e? (217) 

5. To what were the financial troubles of these years partly due? 

(217) 

6. What action did the political parties take at the election in 1874? 

(218) 

7. Give a sketch of the life of Charles H. Hardin. (2 19) 

8. What is said about locusts? (220) 

9. What efforts were made toward securing a new Constitution? 

(221) 

10. Mention its first marked feature. (222) 

11. And the second. (222) 

12. And the third. (222) 

13. How was it adopted? (222) 



FROM 1877 TO 1892. 



193 



14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 



What was the vote for and against it? (222) 
What changes did it make in the terms of offices? (223) 
Who were the candidates for Governor in 1876? (224) 
Who was elected and with what majority? , (224) 



' \yhj;ki 



CHAPTER XXII. 

FROM 1877 TO 1892. 

225. John S. Phelps. — John S. Phelps was born in 
Connecticut, December 22, 1814. His father, EHsha Phelps, 
was a lawyer of prominence in that State and served also as 
a member of the Legisla- 
ture, and in other State 
ofhces, and three terms in 
Congress. His grandfather 
was a gallant and brave ofh- 
cer in the Revolutionary War. 
He received a classical educa- 
tion, studied law and was 
admitted to the bar in his 
native State. In 1837 he 
came to Missouri and settled 
at Springfield. Under the 
then laws of the State he must 
needs obtain a new license 
before he could practice law 
in Missouri, and that, too, 
from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Phelps made 
the journey to Jefferson City on horseback, and o|i arrival 
learned that Judge Tompkins was some distance in the country 
at a sawmill. There the judge was found and the examination 
had, the applicant sitting on a log, and the hard knotty 
questions, hard like the logs around them, were plied by the 
chief justice. The license was written on a leaf torn from an 
old blue ledger, and from this unique circumstance young 
Phelps turned away to become one of the most prominent and 

13 




John S. Phelps. 



194 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

influential men in the State's history for the next forty years. 
He soon became noted in southwest Missouri as a great law- 
yer, and in 1840 was elected to the Legislature as a Democrat. 
In 1844 he was elected to Congress, and was a member of that 
body continuously till 1862. At that time the most important 
committee of the House was the Committee of Ways and 
Means, and of this Mr. Phelps was eight years chairman. 
When the war came on he sided with the Union, and did much 
toward aiding General Lyon in his efforts to grasp the State 
from the hands of Governor Jackson. In 1861 he organized 
"Phelps's Regiment," was its colonel for several months, and, 
at the battle of Pea Ridge, commanded it in person and saw it 
sufi^er a loss of thirty per cent of its men. In 1862 he was mili- 
tary governor of Arkansas. In 1863 he resumed the practice 
of law at Springfield. He was frequently put forward dur- 
ing the next few years for United States Senator as a Union 
Democrat, but always defeated. In 1868 he was the Demo- 
cratic candidate for Governor, and was elected in 1876, served 
for four years, and filled the office with creditable honor 
and wisdom. So well satisfied were the people with his 
administration that he doubtless would have been elected 
again had not the Constitution adopted in 1875 made it 
impossible for him to succeed himself. He died in St. Louis 
in 1886. 

226. Senators. — In 1875 Francis M. Cockrell was 
elected as a Democrat to represent Missouri in the United 
States Senate, and was re-elected in 1881, 1887, 1893 and 
1899. He served the people as Senator for just thirty years, 
but in March, 1905, was defeated by William Warner, a 
Republican. In 1879 George G. Vest was elected as the other 
United States Senator, and continued to serve for twenty- 
four years. At the close of his fourth term, in 1903, he 
declined re-election, and William J. Stone, a Democrat, was 
chosen as his successor, and re-elected in 1909 and 1915. 
In 1911 James A. Reed of Kansas City was elected to succeed 



FROM 1877 TO 1892. 



195 



Major Warner, and re-elected by the people, in 1916, for 
another term of six years. 

227. Governor Crittenden. — Thomas T. Crittenden was 
elected Governor in 1880. The Republican candidate was 
D. Pat. Dyer of St. Louis, who in after years was the judge 
of the United States District Court of Eastern Missouri. 
Mr. Crittenden was born in Kentucky in 1832, and reared at 
Cloverport on the Ohio River. His primary education was 
in the log-cabin schoolhouse of that time, but in 1852 he 
entered Centre College, in that State, and was graduated 
therefrom in 1855. He studied law with his uncle, the great 
J. J. Crittenden, and came to Missouri and settled at Lexing- 
ton. In 1862 he enrolled in the State militia, was made 
lieutenant-colonel and served 
till the close of the war. He 
then resumed the practice of 
law at Warrensburg as a partner 
of ^General F. M. Cockrell. He 
became a leader in the liberal 
movement for equality of citi- 
zenship, peace, fraternity and 
good will, and boldly advanced 
these ideas in a brilliant canvass 
of a great part of the State. In 
1872 he was elected to Congress, 
and again in 1876. His admin- 
istration is remembered mostly 
for the breaking up of the James 
Boys' band of outlaws and mur- 
derers, the most terrible set of 
train and bank robbers in all 

Western history, and also for a settlement of the Hannibal & 
St. Joseph Railroad debt. The State had, in 1851 and 1855, 
issued its bonds to the amount of $3,000,000 to aid in building 




Thos. T. Crittenden. 



196 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

that road. During this administration, after a great number 
of law suits, the road paid the debt with interest. 

228. The Election of 1884.— There were three candi- 
dates for Governor in 1884. The Democrats nominated John 
S. Marmaduke; the Republicans, Nicholas Ford of Andrew 
County; and the Prohibitionists, John A. Brooks of Kansas 
City. Neither Marmaduke nor Ford had any ability as pub- 
lic speakers, and neither had ever been extensively or con- 
spicuously identified with political contests; consequently, 
the campaign was largely overshadowed by the national con- 
test for the Presidency between Blaine and Cleveland. The 
Prohibitionists, however, made a more energetic campaign 
and polled more votes than ever before or since. Marmaduke 
was elected. The principal features of his administration 
were the Local Option Law and the legislation regulating rail- 
roads. For some time public sentiment had been growing 
against the grasping power and extortionate greed of rail- 
roads. An effort was made in 
the Legislature of 1887 to give 
relief, but without success, and 
an adjournment was had, leav- 
ing the matter entirely unsettled, 
much to the regret of the Gover- 
nor and a large part of the peo- 
ple. Thereupon he called an 
extra session to consider this 
y^f-r ^, question. After an animated 

'^' ''^ ''" ^ session, prolonged through sev- 

^~ ^,^ eral weeks, a law was passed for- 

-' I& , ' " bidding railroads to pool with 

each other in keeping up the 

John S. Marmaduke. p^.^^^ ^f ^^.^f^^^ ^^^^ forbidding 

them from charging higher rates for short distances than for 
longer ones over the same road and to the same market, also 
from charging small shippers higher rates per car than large 




^ 



FROM 1877 TO 1892. 197 

ones. The law satisfied the public demands for a few years 
and as time goes on seems to be much more efficient than was 
at first supposed. 

229. The Local Option Law. — The Local Option Law 
was enacted in 1887 in the interest of temperance. It gave 
to each town of 2,500 population the right to decide, by a 
majority vote, whether or not intoxicating liquors should be 
sold therein as a beverage, and to all the rest of the county, 
except such towns, the same privilege. Under this law nearly 
all of the principal towns and a majority of the counties held 
elections. In a majority of them the vote was against the 
selling of liquors, but in most of these cases the election was 
declared invalid because proper notice was not given in the 
newspapers, or because it was not otherwise legally ordered 
or held. The whole State was alive with. these elections in 
1887 and 1888, and then for a few years public interest in 
them declined, but later greatly revived and has continued 
unabated since, and at this time a vast majority of the coun- 
ties and smaller cities have adopted it, thereby excluding 
the legal sale of intoxicating liquors within their bounds. 

230. Governor Marmaduke. — John Sappington Mar- 
maduke was t5brn in Saline County, in 1833, being a son of 
M. M. Marmaduke, who became Governor on the death of 
Thomas Reynolds in 1844. He was reared on the farm, 
entered Yale College at the age of seventeen and West Point 
Military Academy at the age of twenty, from which he was 
graduated in 1857, and was assigned to duty in Utah as an offi- 
cer in the Regular Army under the renowned Albert Sidney 
Johnston. When civil war broke in mad fury over the land, 
he resigned from the United States Army, organized a com- 
pany of State Guards and joined Governor Jackson at Boon- 
ville. Contrary to his advice, Governor Jackson, who was 
his uncle by marriage, ordered him to give battle to General 
Lyon at that place. He obeyed the order, led his little army 
to certain defeat in face of Lyon's stalwart troops, then quickly 



198 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

resigned from the State Guard, proceeded to Richmond and 
tendered his sword to the Confederacy, and then went off to 
the war. He became a colonel in Albert Sidney Johnston's 
army, and, for gallant conduct at the battle of Shiloh, was 
breveted brigadier-general on the field. He subsequently took 
part in the war in Missouri and Arkansas. When the war was 
over he became a commission merchant in St. Louis. After- 
wards he became interested in journalism and became the 
owner of a farmers' paper called the Journal of Agriculture. In 
1876 he was elected Railroad Commissioner, and in 1884 
Governor, and served just three years, till December 28, 
1887, on which day he died. He was not a man of exemplary 
private habits, but as an officer he was above reproach. His 
every official act was guided by the rule that ''a public office 
is a public trust." He despised political machines, and would 
not prostitute his office to building up one for himself or for 
any one else. He set his face steadily against cliques, com- 
bines, political intrigue and underhanded public action. His 
appointees were men of higli character and standing and he 
required of them to perform their statutory duties faithfully 
and impartially for the public good, and to no other end. He 
loved little children, and had the candor and sincerity of a 
child. During his administration he was characterized by 
his friends, and afterwards by his political opponents, as "the 
immaculate Governor." Upon his death, Albert P. More- 
house, the Lieutenant-Governor, immediately succeeded to the 
office of Governor, and held it for one year. He was a native 
of Ohio and came to Missouri in 1856, and after teaching 
school for a time became a lawyer, and rose to eminence in 
northwest Missouri as a citizen. He sensed several terms in 
the Legislature and died in September, 1891. 

231. The Election of 1888.— At the election of 1888 
the Democratic candidate for Governor was David R. Francis 
of St. Louis, and the Republican was E. E. Kimball of Nevada. 



FROM 1877 TO 1892. 



199 



Francis was elected, and Stephen Claycomb, of Jasper County, 
was chosen Lieutenant-Governor. 

232. David Rowland Francis was born in Kentucky 
in 1850, and moved with his parents to St. Louis in 1866, 
where for four years he attended Washington University, 
graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1870. His 
expenses while at college were defrayed partly by money he 
had earned as a newsboy in Richmond, Kentucky, during the 
war, from 1861 to 1864. To complete his education he in- 
curred a debt of several hundred dollars, which he repaid out 
of. the first money earned after graduation. In 1870 he 
entered upon successful commercial pursuits, which he has 
continued to the present time. In March, 1885, he was elected 
Mayor of St. Louis, and in November, 1888, was elected 
Governor, and inaugurated January 14, 1889. In 1896 he was 
called to the Cabinet by President Cleveland, as Secretary of 
the Interior, and served the country as the head of the Interior 
Department about six months. 
When Congress and the 
State determined to fittingly 
celebrate the one hundredth 
anniversary of the acquiring 
of Louisiana Province, at St. 
Louis in 1914, he was elected 
president of the World's Fair 
Corhpany, and by his great ex- 
ecutive abilities and the untiring 
assistance of those associated 
with him, carried through to 
successful accomplishment one 
of the world's greatest exposi- 
tions. In 1915 he was ap- 
pointed by President Wilson 

Ambassador to Russia, and undertook the hard task of pro- 
tecting the interests of this nation and its people at Petrograd— 




David R. Francis. 



200 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

a most difficult and delicate post, calling for skillful diplomacy, 
since Russia and all the other great nations of Europe were 
then at war. During his administration as Governor the 
State Treasurer became a defaulter in the sum of about thirty- 
two thousand dollars. The Governor promptly suspended 
him from office, his bondsmen without suit made good the 
amount embezzled, and the defaulting officer was prosecuted 
and sent to the penitentiary. Lon V. Stephens, who after- 
wards was Governor, was appointed State Treasurer to fill the 
vacancy. 

Questions on Chapter XXII. 

1. Give a sketch of the life of John S. Phelps. (225) 

2. Who vv-ere elected Senators in 1875 and 1879? (226) 

3. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1880? (227) 

4. Give a sketch of Governor Crittenden's life. (227) 

5. For what is his administration most remembered? (227) 

6. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1884? (228) 

7. What is said about the campaign? (228) 

8. What were the principal features of Marmaduke's administra- 

tion? (228) 

9. What is said about legislation regulating railroads? (228) 

10. What is said of the Local Option Law? (229) 

11. Give a sketch of the life of John S. Marmaduke. (230) 

12. How long did he serve as Governor? (230) 

13. Who succeeded him? (230) 

14. What is said of Governor Morehouse? (230) 

15. What is said of the election of 1888? (231) 

16. Give a sketch of the life of Mr. Francis. (232) 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

233. The Election of 1892.— In 1892 the Republican 
party nominated Major William Warner of Kansas City as 
its candidate for Governor, and the Democrats nominated 
William J. Stone of Nevada. Both candidates were exceed- 
ingly able speakers, and the campaign that followed was one 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



201 



of the most active ever known in the State. The main issue 
of the contest was the proper system of taxation by the Fed- 
eral Government — whether there should be a tariff for pro- 
tection or tariff for revenue only. In this campaign Leverett 
Leonard of Saline County was a candidate of the new Popu- 
list or People's party for the office of Governor. At the polls 
Major Warner received 235,383 votes, Mr. Stone, 265,044, 
Mr. Leonard, 37,262. There were also 3,393 votes cast for 
John Sobieski, the Prohibition candidate. Mr. Stone re- 
ceived 29,661 more votes than did Major Warner, and was 
elected. 

234. William J. Stone. — William Joel Stone was born 
near Richmond in Madison County, Kentucky, in 1848, his 
ancestors having come to that State from Virginia. He was 

reared on his father's farm 
and attended the neighborhood 
schools and the seminary at 
"^ mMT"^ ■'' 1»J Richmond. In 1863 he came 

^-IjtMv--'' -^'.^^. ^- to Missouri and was educated 

at the State University at Co- 
lumbia. In 1869 he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, served as city 
attorney of Columbia for a few 
months, and in 1870 removed 
to Nevada, and soon became one 
of the most prominent citizens 
and lawyers of southwest Mis- 
souri. In 1884 he was elected 
to Congress and served in the 
House of Representatives for 
six years. While a member of 
that body the tenacious contest arose in Congress over the 
forfeiture of the immense land grants made to Western and 
Southern railroads between 1862 and 1868. Mr. Stone con- 
tended that these lands ought to be restored to the public 




William J. Stone. 



202 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

domain for the reason that the railroads had not complied 
with the terms of the grants. He became a leader on the side 
of those urging that the grants be forfeited, and as a result of 
this movement about sixty million acres were restored to the 
Government while he was a member of Congress. In 1892 he 
became Governor, and during his term led in the organization 
of the Democratic party of the State in behalf of the free and 
unlimited coinage of silver. At the close of his term as Gov- 
ernor, he engaged in the practice of the law at St. Louis, and 
in 1903 was elected a Senator in Congress by the Missouri 
General Assembly, and was re-elected in 1909, and again in 
1915. He took high rank in the Senate. In time he became 
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, the most 
important position in the Senate after the great European 
war came on in 1914. 

235. Decrease in Revenues. — In 1892 the valuation 
of all property in the State, as ascertained by the assessments 
made by the county assessors and the changes made by the 
State Board of Equalization in equalizing those assessments, 
slightly exceeded the sum of nine hundred million dollars. 
Up to that time since the adoption of the Constitution of 1875 
the rate of taxation for State purposes had been twenty cents 
on the hundred dollars' valuation. But by the Constitution 
when the entire valuation exceeds nine hundred millions, this 
rate must not exceed fifteen cents on each hundred dollars' 
worth of property. Hence, it may be seen that the revenues 
of the State were much less for the next few years than they 
had been for some time prior to 1893. Nevertheless the State 
government was not impaired nor greatly embarrassed by 
this sudden change. By proper economy it was able to ap- 
propriate one-third of its revenue to the public schools, a^nd 
besides built the main edifice to the State University, whose 
buildings had been burned in 1892, and made additions to 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 203 

about half of the educational and eleemosynary institutions 
of the State, and paid all claims against the treasury when 
presented. 

236. Cyclones. — In late years destructive storms, pop- 
ularly called cyclones or tornadoes, have occurred in the 
West, and in most states in the upper Mississippi Valley. 
They have occurred in various parts of Missouri, but only the 
four that were most destructive of life and property will be 
mentioned. In 1878 a violent storm swept down on Rich- 
mond, in Ray County, killing more than a score of people, and 
destroying many houses. Another, equally destructive of 
life and property, overtook the town of Marshfield, in Web- 
ster County, in 1880. Another still more destructive fell upon 
the town of Kirksville in 1899. But the worst cyclone per- 
haps ever known in the West was the one which came down 
on St. Louis late in the afternoon of May 27, 1896. It came 
from a southwesterly direction, and mowed a wide way for 
itself through the city. Churches, residences, factories, 
parks, buildings of every kind were destroyed. It caused the 
death of two hundred and twenty people in the city, twelve 
boats on the river were lost, eight thousand three hundred 
houses were either destroyed or badly damaged, and parts of 
the great railroad bridge over the Mississippi were blown 
down. But wherever these storms have occurred, the sur- 
vivors have soon set aside their fears, gathered their energies 
together again and repaired the loss of property. The num- 
ber of deaths in the whole State caused by them is far less 
than that caused by a disease of ordinary virulence, and the 
value of the property destroyed is not to be compared to that 
consumed by fire; and, beyond question, many people have 
permitted themselves to unnecessarily exaggerate their dan- 
ger. 

237. Election of 1896.— For the election of 1896 the 
Democrats nominated Lon V. Stephens, of Boonville, for 
Governor, and the Republicans nominated Robert E. Lewis, 



204 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



of Clinton. The Populists nominated Orville D. Jones, of 
Edina, but in a month or two after his nomination Judge 
Jones withdrew in favor of Mr. Stephens. The campaign 
was a stirring one from the beginning. Mr. Stephens was 
elected, receiving 43,233 more votes than Mr. Lewis. 

238. Governor Stephens. — Lon V. Stephens was born 
in Boonville, Missouri, December 21, 1858, being a son of 
the well-known Joseph L. Stephens, who for many years was 
one of the most prominent business men of the State, and 
himself a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Gov- 
ernor in 1872. He was prepared for college in t!ie famous 
Kemper Family School of Boonville, and w^as then sent to 
Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia. After 

making a tour of Europe, he be- 
came identified with his father's 
bank in Boonville, serving as 
book-keeper, cashier, and direc- 
tor, and here received the train- 
ing which soon made him con- 
spicuous among the younger 
business men of Missouri. In 
1887 he was made receiver of the 
Fifth National Bank of St. 
Louis, which had become bank- 
rupt, and so successfully wound 
up its affairs as to attract the 
attention of the State. In 
March, 1890, he was appointed State Treasurer to fill out the 
term of Mr. Noland, who had been removed, and in 1892 
elected to the same position for a term of four years. While 
in this office he became identified with those who were urging 
the cause of the free and unlimited coinage of silver, which had 
gained control of the Democratic party in Missouri, and at the 
State convention was nominated for Governor by acclamation, 
and elected to that office in November. 




Lon V. Stephens. 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 205 

239. Strikes. — During Governor Stone's term there was 
a strike among the coal miners throughout the country, 
which was accompanied with violence in many States. The 
militia was called out in Ohio, Kansas, Tennessee and other 
States to restore order. A strong effort was made to involve 
the miners of Missouri in this strike ; but because of the prompt 
and wise action taken by the administration, assisted by 
employers and leaders among the miners, all trouble here was 
averted. 

About the first of July, 1894, a strike by the employees of 
railroads extended over a great part of the country. Traffic 
was interrupted, commerce greatly impeded, and in some 
places there was violence, bloodshed and destruction of prop- 
erty. But happily in Missouri traffic was not materially in- 
terrupted except on three railroads, and on these the trouble 
continued for only three or four days; nor was there any 
extensive destruction of property or bloodshed. 

But in 1900, during the administration of Governor 
Stephens, there was a strike among the employees of the 
street railways In St. Louis, which lasted for six weeks. It 
Involved about four-fifths of all the railways In the city, and 
was attended with some violence and resulted in much loss 
of business. In fact, business almost ceased, both within the 
city and In the wide extent of country of which it Is the 
metropolis. The police forced the cars to run, but did not 
give such protection as made it safe for citizens to ride on 
them. The Mayor and Municipal Assembly seemed Indif- 
ferent, and made no real effort to restore order. The Gov- 
ernor was appealed to by a large number of citizens to call out 
the militia to put down the rioters. He replied that he would 
not do so because there was no money on hand with which to 
pay their expenses, and because he was not convinced that 
the sheriff had tried to use the posse comitatiis to suppress 
disorder, and directed the sheriff to do that at once. Then 
the sheriff summoned hundreds of the most prominent and 



206 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



substantial citizens in the city to aid him. They responded 
with surprising alacrity. They took their guns and went 
forth to restore order, and order was soon restored. The 
ri-oters ceased to destroy property, throw stones at cars, insult 
passengers, or do other violence. Then the strike worg itself 
out. A few of the most lawless among the rioters were tried 
for criminally destroying the tracks and blowing up cars on 
which were passengers, convicted, and sent to the peniten- 
tiary. 

240. Election of 1900.— In 1900 the Democratic party 
nominated Alexander M. Dockery of Gallatin as its candi- 
date for Governor, and the Republicans nominated Joseph 
Flory of St. Louis. Five or six other small parties also put 
forward candidates, but the issue was between the Demo- 
crats and the Republicans. Mr. Dockery was elected by a 
plurality of 32,147 over Mr. Flory. 

241. Governor Dockery. 

— Alexander Monroe Dockery 
was born in Daviess County, 
February 11, 1845. He was 
educated in the common schools, 
and at the Macon Academy, and 
graduated from the best medi- 
cal colleges in St. Louis and New 
York, and practiced medicine 
until 1874, in Linneus and Chilli- 
cothe. In 1874 he assisted in 
organizing a bank at Gallatin 
and for eight years was its cash- 
ier. It was during that period 
that his unusual business ability 
first manifested itself. In 1882 
he was elected to Congress as a 
Democrat, and was a member of the House of Representatives 
for sixteen years, where he took high rank, and was the author 




A. M. Dockery. 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 207 

of some legislation which has become a fixed part of the 
Government's affairs, such as the law providing for special 
letter delivery at all postoffices and of the law extending free 
delivery of mails to small cities. In 1899 he voluntarily 
retired from Congress to become a candidate for Governor. 
He was elected, and inaugurated January 14, 1901. 

242. Election of 1904. — With the exception of the un- 
important election of 1894, the Democrats had carried the 
State at every election since the right to vote had been re- 
stored to all male citizens twenty-one years of age in 1870. 
But in 1904 the Democratic party was torn to pieces by in- 
ternal dissensions. The campaign leading up to the State 
convention was intensely bitter. It resulted in the nomina- 
tion of Joseph W. Folk of St. Louis. The Republicans nom- 
inated Cyrus P. Walbridge of the same city. Mr. Folk was 
elected, but otherwise the Republicans almost completely 
swept the State. They elected the other six State officers, a 
majority of the Circuit Judges and Representatives in Con- 
egress, and obtained a large majority in the House of Repre- 
sentatives of the General Assembly, and that assembly 
elected a Republican to the United States Senate, and they 
carried not only the three large cities of St. Louis, Kansas 
City and St. Joseph, but a majority of the counties, and the 
Republican candidate for Presid'^nt also carried the State by 
a large plurality. But in the election of 1906, when the bitter- 
ness in the Democratic party had somewhat abated, that 
party again carried the State by small majorities. Their 
State ticket was successful, they elected their candidates for 
county offices in a majority of the counties, and had a large 
majority in both houses of the General Assembly of 1907. 

243. Governor Folk. — Joseph W. Folk was born in 
Brownsville, Tennessee, October 28, 1869; he was educated in 
the common schools, and took a law course at Vanderbilt 
University, at Nashville. He came to Missouri in 1891, and 
in 1900 was elected Circuit Attorney of St. Louis, and soon 



208 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 





after entering into office began the prosecution of members 
of the Municipal Assembly who had been guilty of bribery. 

A large number of them were 
indicted, and some of f^f^^ on- 
victed and sent to the peniten- 
tiary. In 1904 he was elected 
Governor by a plurality of 
30,100. The entire vote in the 
State was 643,969, which was 
40,225 less than it had been four 
years before. Mr. Folk was the 
youngest man ever elected Gov- 
ernor of Missouri, being at the 
time of his election only a little 
over thirty-five years of age — 
and no man can become Gover- 
nor until he reaches that age. 

244. The Election of 1908. 

— The Republican party in 1908 
nominated Herbert S. Hadley of Kansas City for Governor, 
and the Democrats nominated William S. Cowherd of the 
same city. Both were men of marked abilities and large 
experience in public affairs. General Hadley was elected by a 
plurality of 15,879 votes. The Republican candidate for 
President also carried the State by 629 votes, and he therebv 
received its entire electoral vote. The returns showed a 
majority of 23 votes for William R. Painter of Carroll county 
for Lieutenant-Governor, out of a total of nearly seven 
hundred thousand. These returns were challenged when they 
were sent to the General Assembly, and that body, after weary 
attempts to correct the errors therein, declared that J. F. 
Gmelich, the Republican candidate, had been elected by 177 
votes. The Democratic candidates for Secretary of State, 
State Auditor, State Treasurer, Attorney-General and Su- 
preme Judge were elected. The Republicans had a majority 



\ 

Joseph W. Folk. 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



209 



in the House of Representatives, but the Democrats a larger 
majority in the Senate, and the General Assembly on joint 
ballot re-elected William J. Stone to the United States Senate. 
The. Ilepublicans elected six and the Democrats ten Repre- 
sentee., yes in Congi^ss. 

245. Governor Hadley. — Herbert S. Hadley was born 
in Olathe, Kansas, February 20, 1872. He was educated 
at the University of Kansas, the Northwestern University 
and the Chicago Law School. 

He began the practice of the 
law in Kansas City in 1894, and 
in 1898 was appointed first assist- 
ant city counselor of that city, 
which position he held until 
January 1, 1901, when he re- 
signed to enter upon his duties 
as prosecuting attorney of Jack- 
son County, to which position he 
had been elected in the previous 
November. In 1904 he was the 
Republican candidate for Attor- 
ney-General and was elected. 
In this office he became very 
active in the prosecution of cer- 
tain trusts and combinations in 
lestraint of trade, especially the 

Standard Oil Company, and through them soon attracted the 
attention of the people of this State and of other States. In 
1908 he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Governor, without opposition in his party, and at the 
succeeding election in November was elected. 

246. Election of 1912. — The Republican party through- 
out the nation was divided into two strong factions in 1912. 
The supporters of William H. Taft, by methods much con- 
demned by those Republicans opposing him, gained a majority 

14 




Herbert S. Hadley. 



y . 



210 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



of the delegates in the National Convention, and renominated 
him for President. Some of the delegates withdrew from the 
convention and, joined by others, organized the Progressive 
party and nominated Theodore Roosevelt. Each party 
nominated state and county tickets throughout the country, 
and that fact made it easy for the Democrats to be successful 
at the polls. The Republican candidate for Governor was 
John C. McKinley of Unionville, the Progressive was Judge 
Albert D. Nortoni of St. Louis, and the Democratic, Elliott W. 
Major of Pike County. McKinley's vote was 217,819, 
Nortoni's, 109,146, and Major's, 337,019. Mr. Major and all 
the other Democratic candidates for State offices were elected. 
The Democrats also had a large majority in both houses of the 
General Assembly and had gained nearly all the county and 
district offices. 

247. Governor Major. — 

Elliott W. Major was born in 
Lincoln County, October 20, 
1864, and was educated in the 
public schools and Watson Semi- 
nary. He studied law in the 
office of Hon. Champ Clark, 
who in after years was Speaker 
of the House of Representatives 
at Washington. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar and made 
Bowling Green his home. In 
1896 he was elected to the State 
Senate and was a member of the 
commission that revised and 
compiled the Revised Statutes 
of Missouri in 1899. In 1904 he 

was nominated for Attorney-General by the Democrats and 
was defeated by Herbert S. Hadley. In 1908 he was again 
nominated for the same office, this time without opposition. 




Elliott W. Major. 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 211 

and was elected. In 1912 he was nominated over William 
S. Cowherd in the state- wide primary, and was elected in the 
following November. There are three outstanding features 
of his administration. The first were the laws providing for 
aid by the State to high schools in small cities and in consoli- 
dated school districts and to weak common schools. The 
next was the increased interest engendered in improving public 
roads and building permanent roads. The third was the 
creation of the Public Service Commission, which was given 
control over all public service corporations, such as telephone, 
railroad and electric light companies, the purpose being to so 
regulate their rates along lines of justice both to the companies 
and the public, that the duplication of plants as a remedy 
for excessive rates and insufficient service, and the consequent 
waste of properties, which in the end must be borne by con- 
sumers, would be avoided. 

248. The Election of 1916. — The contest for nominations 
in the State-wide primary held in August, 1916, was spirited. 
There were seven candidates for the Democratic nomination 
for Governor, and the honor by a large plurality went to 
Frederick Gardner of St. Louis. There were four candidates 
for the nomination at the hands of the Republican party; 
Henry Lamm of Sedalia, who was a lawyer of large abilities 
and for ten years had been Supreme Judge, was nominated. 
The race between the two candidates for Governor was close, 
Mr. Gardner being elected by plurality of only 2,263. The 
Democratic candidates for all the other State offices, except 
the candidate for State Auditor, were elected by pluralities 
varying from fourteen thousand to twenty- two thousand, and 
the Democrats had a majority in both houses of the succeeding 
General Assembly. They also elected fourteen of their sixteen 
candidates for Representatives in Congress, and their candi- 
date for United States Senator. Their success was in part due 
to the popularity of the Democratic candidate for President, 
Woodrow Wilson, whose administration during the preceding 



212 



HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



four years, and the many advanced laws for the piomotion of 
the welfare of the people enacted by the Democratic Congress 
during that period, were pleasing to the people of this State. 

Frederick Gardner was born on a farm near Hickman, 
Kentucky, November 6, 1869. His mother died when he was 

seven years of age, and his 
father, who had been a Con- 
federate soldier, moved to Ten- 
nessee. In 1886 Frederick came 
to Missouri, found employment 
in St. Louis, soon embarked in 
business for himself, and rapidly 
built up a great industry. In 
1913 he was one of the thirteen 
freeholders selected to frame 
a new charter for the city. He 
had never held any other office 
prior to his election as Governor, 
and the condition of the State 
Treasury imposed on him and 
the Legislature heavy tasks, 
sometime the expense of the State government had outrun 
its income. In the preceding six years over eight hundred 
thousand dollars had been paid out to help weak public schools, 
and aid had been given to road building and other public 
enterprises. The appropriations made by the General Assem- 
bly for two or three sessions had been in excess of the antici- 
pated revenue. More than a million and a half dollars was 
due because of obligations that had been incurred in the belief 
that the revenue that would come in during the next two years 
would be sufficient to meet the appropriations made in 1915. 
Governor Gardner and the Legislature went to work in good 
earnest to devise measures by which all these accounts could 
be paid, and none of the aid theretofore extended to the public 
schools and other enterprises in behalf of the general welfare 




\ 



Frederick D. Gardner. 



For 



FROM 1892 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 213 

would be curtailed. Laws were enacted increasing the taxes 
on saloons and the registration taxes to be paid by automobiles 
and corporations, and placing taxes on inheritances, especially 
on collateral inheritances, and on the manufacture and sale 
at wholesale of spirituous liquors, and also a tax on incomes. 
The Legislature also enacted laws making women eligible to 
elections as school directors, abolishing capital punishment, 
and making provision for vocational training in the public 
schools. 

249. Conclusion.— The census of 1910 gave the popu- 
lation of the State as 3,293,335. This had been an increase of 
186,670 since 1900. The area of the State is 68,735 square 
miles, or about forty-four million acres. There are more than 
eight thousand miles of railroad, and the taxable wealth of the 
State is considerably over one billion eight million dollars. 
The territory is well supplied with rivers, and the annual rain- 
fall is large. There are lead, iron and zinc in untold quanti- 
ties. A large part of the State is underlaid with excellent 
coal, and these beds are to be found in ready access to each 
county. Numerous other mineral products are found in 
large quantities and of excellent quality. The State is so 
rich in everything that contributes to the comforts of man that 
it could be made to supply the wants of twenty-five millions of 
people. There is a strong central university at Columbia, 
and two others in St. Louis, namely, Washington University 
and the St. Louis University. There are not less than one 
hundred and fifty colleges, academies and seminaries, the 
strongest colleges being William Jewell at Liberty, Central at 
Fayette, Westminster at Fulton, Drury at Springfield, 
Missouri Valley at Marshall, Park at Parkville, Central 
Wesleyan at Warrenton, Tarkio at Tarkio, Central College 
for Young Ladies at Lexington, Stephens and Christian at 
Columbia, Hardin at Mexico, Lindenwood at St. Charles, 
William Woods at Fulton, Howard-Payne at Fayette, 
Cottey at Nevada; and for the education of teachers there 



214 HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 

are the five State Normals at Warrensburg, Cape Girardeau, 
Kirksville, Springfield and Maryville. There are schools 
for the education of physicians and lawyers. Besides, there 
are about six hundred high schools, ten thousand public and 
private schools, and over nineteen thousand teachers. The 
inhabitants of Missouri have always been a religious people, 
and in every county and town, and in almost every township, 
there are faithful men of God proclaiming the Gospel. The 
leading religious denominations are Baptist, Methodist, 
Catholic, Presbyterian, Christian, Episcopalian, Lutheran and 
Congregationalist. 

Gf late years there have been a constantly increasing 
interest and activity in the construction of permanent public 
roads, and in the drainage and redemption of the rich bottoni 
lands along the large and small rivers. 

Questions on Chapter XXIII. 

1. Who were the candidates for Governor in 1892? (233) 

2. What is said of the campaign? (233) 

3. Who was elected? (233) 

4. Give a sketch of the life of William J. Stone. (234) 

5. What is said about the valuation of property in 1892? (235) 

6. What is said of cyclones? (236) 

7. Who was elected Governor in 1896. (237) 

8. What is said about the strike among railroad employees in 1894? , 

(239) 

9. What is said of the street railway strike in St. Louis and of the 

way it was suppressed? (239) 

10. Who was elected Governor in 1900 and by how much? (240) 

11. What party carried the State in 1904? In 1906? (242) 

12. What is said concerning the election of 1908? (244) 

13. Give a sketch of Governor Hadley. (245) 

14. What three outstanding features of Major's administration? 

(247) 
\6. Read what is said in conclusion. (249) 



INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI 



(References are to the Section Numbers.) 



Adam-on-diahmon, 89. 
Alabama, 55, 142. 
Army of West, 101, 102. 
Arsenal: 

at Liberty, 159; 

at St. Louis, 156, 160. 
Ashley. William H., 64, 71. 79, 83. 
Atchison, David R., 82, 114, 124, 127, 

t 147. 
Bank of Missouri, 50, 92. 
Bank of St. Louis, 50. 
Baptists, 202. 
Barton, David, 59, 66. 
Bates, Edward, 59, 149. 
Bates, Frederick, 71, 72. 
Battles, number of, 191. 
Bay, W. V. N., 201. 
Bell, John, 140. 

Benton, Thomas H., 66, 67, 113-7, 124. 
Big Blue, battle of, 190. 
Bingham, Geo. C, 189. 
Bits (money), 47, 
Black Guard, the, 162. 
Blair, Francis P., 102. 149, 157, 167, 

202, 203, 209. 
Blanchette, 10. 
Bloody Hill, 177-79. 
Bloody Island, 73. 
Blue Lodges, 129. 
Bogart, Capt. Samuel, 89. 
Boggs, Lilburn W., 79, 83, 84, 89, 91. 
Boone, Daniel, 39. 
Boone, Nathan and Daniel,. 38. 
Boone's Lick, 38, 42. 
Boonville, battle of, 169-72. 
Bracito, 103. 

Breckenridge, John C. 139, 140. 
British and Indian attack, 19. 
Broadhead, Jas. O;, 149, 151, 153, 203. 
Brooks, John S., 228. 
Brown, B. Gratz, 149, 203, 207, 209. 
Brown, John, 132. 



Bull, Dr. John, 79. 

Burnt District, 189. 

Bm-r, Aaron. 30-31. 

Business depressions, 50, 216. 

Caldwell County, 86-89. 

Calhoun, John C, 116. 

Camp Jackson, 161-3. 

Cannon, Franklin, 83. 

Capital, State, 75. 

Cardinal Springs, 19. 

Carroll, Charles, 42. 

Carthage, battle of, 173. 

Catholics, 202. 

Charcoals, 199. 

Chiliuahua, 104. 

Cholera, 81. 

Churches, 249. 

Citizens, 60-64. 

Clark, George Rogers, 19. 

Clark, John B., 89, 93, 164, 169, 173, 

177-9, 182. 
Clark, John B., Jr.. 190. 
Clark, William. 33. 41, 64, 82. 
Clay, Henry, 62, 100. 
Claybanks, 199. 
Cockrell, F. M., 212, 226. 
Cole, Stephen and Hannah, 38. 
Colleges, 249. 

Compromise, Missouri, 58, 62, 127. 
Conditional Union men, 148. 
Confederate troops, 176, 192. 
Constitution: First. 59; of 1865. 

195-202; of 1875. 221-5. 
Convention of 1801. 145-54. 180. 
Cook, John D., 59, 69. 
Cooper, Benjamin, 38. 
Coronado, 2. 
Counties, new, 66. 
Cowdery, Oliver. 85. 90. 
Cowherd. William S., 244. 247. 
Crittenden. Thos. T., 186, 227. 
Cruzat, 20. 



(215) 



216 



INDEX TO HISTORY OP MISSOURI. 



Cummings, 202, 

Curtis, General, 190. 

Cyclones, 236. 

Danites, 89. 

De Bourgniont, 7. 

Debt, inxprisonment for, 96. 

Delassus, 22, 27. 

Delawares, 21. 

De Leyba, 19. 

De Soto, 1. 

De Witt. 88. 

Die Schwartze Garde, 162. 

Discoveries, 1-7. 

Disfranchising voters, 199. 

Dockery, Alex. M., 241-2. 

Doniphan, A. W., 82, 89, 90, 101-106, 

164. 
Doniphan's Expedition, 101-106. 
Douglas, Stephen A., 140, 141. 
Draconian Code, 195, 202. 
Drake, Charles D., 195. 
Dryden, J. D. S., 201. 
Duels, 67, 73. 
Dunklin, Daniel, 79, 80. 
Dyer, D. Pat., 227. 
Earthquake, New Madrid, 35-37. 
Edwards. John C, 98, 99. 
Emigration Aid Companies, 128. 
Engler. Samuel, 183. 
Ewing. Robert C, 124. 
Ewing, Genl. H. S.. 190. 
Ewing, Thomas, 189. 
Ex post facto law, 202. 
Far West, 87-89. 
Filley. O. D.. 166. 
Finkelnburg, G. A., 224. 
Fire in St. Louis, 110. 
First settlement, 8. 
First white man, 1. 
Fisk, Clinton B., 190. 
Fletcher. Thomas C, 194, 196, 199. 
Florida, 26, 100. 
Flory, Joseph, 240. 
Folk, Joseph W., 242-3. 
Ford, Nicholas, 228. 
Fort Orleans, 7. 
Francis. David R., 231-2. 
Franklin. 42. 
Free negroes, 60. 
Fremont, John C, 138. 
French explorations, 2-5. 
French houses and lands, 18. 
Frost, General D. M., 135, 156, 158-63. 



Fugitive Slave Law, 133, 139. 

Fur trade, 48. 

Gallatin, 89. 

Gamble, Hamilton R., 151-2, 180, 

193, 198. 
Gardenhire, James, 141. 
Gardner, Fred. D., 248. 
Gentry, William, 218. 
Germans, 136, 162. 
Geyer, Henry S., 117, 124. 
Glover, Samuel T., 149, 203. 
GmeUch, J. F., 244. 
Grange, the, 217-18. 
Grasshoppers, 220. 
Green, Duff, 59. 
Green. James S., 124, 147, 155. 
Guitar, Odon, 186. 
Gunn City, 212. 
Had ley. Herbert S., 244-5. 
Hall, WiUard P., 102, 151, 180, 199. 

203. 
Hall, William A., 153, 167. 
Halleck, General, 183-4, 187. 
Hardin, Charles H., 218-9. 
Hards and Softs, 98. 
Harney, General, 135, 156, 160, 166 
Harris, Thomas A., 164. 
Harrison, Albert G., 83. 
Harrison, Wm. H., 28. 
Hempstead, Edward, 41. 
Henderson, John B., 151, 153. 
HiUer, J. C. A., 75. 
Hinkle, George W. , 88-89. 
Holmes, Nathaniel, 201. 
Hough, George W., 113. 
Houses and lands, 45, 46. 
Howard, Benjamin, 40. 
Howard County, 38, 40. 
Hughes. Andrew S.. 82. 
Humana. 2. 
Immigration. 44. 
Imprisonment for debt. 96. 
Independence, battle of, 190. 
Internal improvements, 120. 
Iowa Line, 111-2. 
Iron-clad oath, 197, 202, 207. 
Jackson, Camp, 161-3. 
Jackson, Claiborne F., 113-4. 141, 143- 

4, 147, 158, 163, 167, 182. 
Jackson, Congreve, 88. 
Jackson, Hancock, 124, 141. 
Jackson Resolutions, 113-4, 127. 
Jayhawkers, 132-5. 



INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



217 



Jefferson, Thomas, 26, 33. 

Johnson, Waldo P., 155, 221. 

Joliet, Louis, 2. 

Jones, John Rice, 59, 69. 

Kansas troubles, 127-135. 

Kehnett, Luther M., 117, 

Kimball, E. E., 231. 

King, Austin A., 109. 

Kirksville tornado, 236. 

Krekel, Arnold, 195. 

Lacaff, Theo., 71. 

Laclede, 9. 

Lafayette, visit of, 74. 

La Salle, 3. 

Lawrence, Sacking of, 188. 

Lead, 8, 48. 

Legislature, deposed, 180. 

Legislature of 1861, 145. 

Lewis and Clark Expedition, 33. 

Lewis, Meriwether, 33, 40. 

Lewis, Robert, E., 237. 

Lexington, battle of , 181. 

Liberal Republicans, 207, 214. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 140, 163, 198. 

Little Blue, battle of, 190. 

Little Osage, battle of, 190. 

Local Option Law, 228-9. 

Locusts, 220. 

Louis XIV., 2, 3. 

Louisiana Purchase, 25-27. 

Lovelace, W. L., 201. 

Lucas, Charles, 67. 

Lucas, Samuel D., 89. 

Lyon, Nathaniel, 156-179. 

McBride, James H., 164, 177. 

McClurg, Joseph W., 204-5. 

McCuUoch, Ben, 172, 175-7, 179. 

McKinley, John C, 246. 

McNair, Alexander, 59, 64, 65. 

McNeil, John, 190. 

Maine, 58. 

Major, Elliott W., 246-7. 

Manumission Day, 196. 

Marmaduke, John S., 171, 190, 228, 

230. 
Marmaduke, Meredith M., 93, 97. 
Marquette, 2. 
Marshfield tornado, 236. 
Massachusetts, 128, 192. 
Matches, 123. 
Mexican War, 101-108. 
Mihtary Bill, 145, 150, 163, 186. 
Militia, State, 186-7. 



Miller, John, 76, 83. 
Mill Port, 89. 
Missouri : 

admission into Union, 52-62; 

claimed by France, 3 ; 

Compromise, 58. 62, 127; 

District of Louisiana, 28; 

first Constitution, 59; 

name, 3, 41; 

population in 1800, 24; population 
in 1820, 51; population in 1850, 
136; population in 1870, 210; 

purchased from France by U. S., 26; 

resources, 249; 

transferred by France to Spain, 11; 

transferred by Spain to France, 25 
Money, 47, 50. 
Monroe, James, 26. 
Montgomery, James, 133-4. 
Mormon troubles, 84-91. 
Moss, James H., 153. 
Moss resolution, 153. 
MuUigan, James A., 181. 
Mullins, Maj. A. W., 186, 190. 
Muster Day, 95. 
Name "Missouri," 3, 41. 
Napoleon Bonaparte, 25-27. 
Napton, WilUarn B., 113. 
New Madrid claims, 37. 
New Madrid earthquake, 35-37. 
New Mexico, 102-3, 107-8. 
Newspapers, 32, 42, 86, 147-8, 113. 
Normal schools, 249. 
Nortoni, Albert D., 246. 
NulUfication, 116, 139. 
Officers, ousted, 180, 199, 201. 
Onate, 2. 

Order No. 11, 189. 
Order No. 24, 183. 
Ousting ordinance, 199-201. 
Painter, William R., 244. 
Panic of 1873, 216. 
Parks, General H. G., 89. 
Parsons, Monroe M., 164, 168, 177. 
Patrons of Husbandry, 217-8. 
Patten, David, 89. 
Peace, 208, 210. 
Pea Ridge, battle of, 184. 
Penalosa, 2. 
Pens, steel, 123. 
Peyton, R. L. Y., 182. 
Phelps, John S., 98, 203. 204, 224-5. 
PhiUps, John F., 186, 190, 203. 



218 



INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



Piernas, 14. 

Pike, Zebulon, 34. 

Pilot Knob, battle of, i90. 

Pioneer life, 45-48. 

Platte purchase, 82. 

Pleasanton, General, 190. 

Polk, Trusten, 124, 125. 

Pontiac, 13. 

Population: in 1800, 22, 24; in 1810, 

51; in 1820, 51; in 1850, 136; in 

1870, 210; in 1910, 246. 
Prairie fires, 78. 
Preachers, 202. 
Price, SterUng, 98, 101, 103, 118-9, 

151, 164, 166, 167, 169-70, 176-79. 

181, 185, 190. 
Price, Thomas L., 109, 175, 194. 
Price-Harney Agreement, 166. 
Price's Raid, 190. 
Purchase of Louisiana, 25-27. 
Quantrill. Wm. C, 188. 
Quivira, 2. 
Radicals, 199. 
Railroad bonds, 211-13. 
Railroads, 120-2, 211, 213. 
Rains, James S., 164, 172-3. 
Reed, James A., 226. 
Reeves, Benjamin, 59, 71. 
Registration Act, 203. 
Renault, 8. 

Revenues, decrease in, 235. 
Reynolds, Thomas, 93, 96, 97. 
Reynolds, Thomas C, 145, 147, 180, 

182. 
Richmond tornado, 236. 
Riddick, Thomas F., 59. 
Roads, toll, 120. 
Rollins, James S., 90, 109, 124. 
Sacs and Fox Indians, 19, 82. 
St. Ange, 12, 13. 
St. Charles, 10. 
Ste. Genevieve, 8. 
St. Louis: 

fire in, 110; 

settlement of, 9; 

tornado, 236. 
Santa Fe, 102, 107. 
Schofleld, General, 177. 187. 
Schools, private, 249. 
Schurz, Carl, 203, 207, 209. 
Scott, John, 59, 68. 
Seal of State, 70. 
Secession, 142, 150, 152, 182. 



Settlements: 

Boone's Lick, 38; 

first, 8; 

first English, 32, 38; 

St. Charles, 10; 

St. Louis, 9. 
Shawnees and Delawares, 21. 
Shelby, Genl. Jo., 190. 
Sigel, Frantz, 170, 173, 177. 
Sisters of Charity, 202. 
Slack, W. Y., 164. 

Slavery, 52-62, 113-6, 127-8, 138, 196 
Slaves, emancipation of, 206. 
Smith, Genl. A. J., 190. 
Smith, Joseph, 85. 
Smith, Thomas A., 41. 
Snead, Thomas L., 147, 167. 
Sobieski, John, 233. 
Soldiers, number of, 192. 
Solemn Public Act, 63. 
South Carolina, 142. 
Spanish Caravan, 6. 
Spanish explorers, 1-2. 
Spanish rule, 11-24. 
Spanish rulers: 

Cruzat, 20; 

Delassus, 22, 27; 

Piernas, 14; 

Trudeau, 22. 
Speer, A. A. 75. 
Standard, E. O., 204. 
State banks, 50, 92. 
Statesman, Columbia, 42. 
State University, 235, 249. 
Steamboats, 49. 
Steen, A. E., 164. 
Stephens, E. W., 75. 
Stephens, Lon V., 232, 237-9. 
Stewart, Robert M., 124, 126, 143. 
Stoddard, Amos, 27. 
Stone, WiUiam J., 226, 233-4. 
Strikes, 239. 

Sturgis, Major, 172, 177-8. 
Suffrage for Colored voters, 206. 
Talmage resolution, 56. 
Taos, 107. 
Teachers, 202. 
Test oath, 199, 202, 207. 
Texas annexation, 100. 
Tomatoes, 123. 
Tompkins, George, 69, 225. 
Tornadoes, 236. 
Trudiau. 22. 



INDEX TO HISTORY OF MISSOURI. 



219 



Unconditional Union men, 149. 
Van Dom, General, 184. 
Vest, George G., 226. 
Wagner, David, 201. 
Walbridge. Cyrus P., 242. 
War: 

declared, 167; 

preparations for, 163-4. 
Warner, William, 226, 233. 
Watkins, Nath. W., 151, 164, 221. 
Westport, battle of, 190. 
Whigs, 93, 94. 



Whitmer, David, 85, 90. 
Wilkinson, James, 30-31. 
Williams, Abraham J., 71. 
WiUiams, John F., 186. 
Wilson, Robert M., 89, 151. 
Wilson's Creek, battle of, 176-79. 
Winston, James, 118. 
Wood, WilUam T., 82. 
Woods, Rev. Sarchel, 88. 
Woodson, Silas, 215. 
Young, Brigham, 90. 
Young, James, 98. 



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